Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot
by Toa Naruto
Summary: NarutoTransformersArmada Xover. Naruto's dream was to be the greatest Hokage ever. But that all changed when he found that Mini-Con. Now as a ninja, and a secret agent for the Autobots, Naruto will show that there's more to him than meets the eye. But will he be able to cope with the demands of both worlds? Eventual NaruHina.
1. Discovery on a New Frontier

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Hey, this is Toa Naruto again. This story is going to be a Naruto x Transformers Armada crossover. Anyways, the main pairing will be NaruHina (along with Rad X Alexis). Other couples will be announced later on. For those of you who are asking "Why would you do a Transformers Armada and Naruto crossover?", I believe that a crossover is possible with these two anime shows because their artwork is very similar. Anyways this story will take place during the **_**Armada**_** arc of **_**Transformers, **_**and Part 1 of **_**Naruto**_**. The beginning takes place during the end of **_**Transformers Armada: Comrade **_**(episode 4). You can view this episode on _youtube. com_ ****. I do not own **_**Naruto **_**or **_**Transformers Armada.**_** They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Hasbro and Takara. **

'_Blah' - _inner thoughts (humans & Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

'_**Blah' - **_demon/monster speaking

"_Blah" - _Mini-Con talking

--Blah-- - someone talking through radio/communication link

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed/really angry yelling

**#** - scene change

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**Chapter 1: Discovery on a New Frontier **

It was a quiet and humid day in the little town. Everything seemed to be normal, unless you don't count the ancient alien spaceship that was hidden within the mountain range that was a few miles away from civilization. But aside from the few satellites that were posted there for research purposes, the entire area was basically left alone. However, if the citizens had even bothered to explore the mountains in depth, like two certain preteens did, then they would have discovered possibly the biggest secret ever to be found by mankind.

Meanwhile, within the mountain range, the old Mini-Con spaceship, which was doubled as the Autobot's home base, was completely empty. The base's sensors had previously detected a Mini-Con panel that revealed itself somewhere in Big Canyon. Without a second's delay, the Autobots warped to Big Canyon in order to save the new Mini-Con from becoming a slave to the Autobots's most hated enemy, the Decepticons. Ever since their departure, the Autobots's base became eerily silent, with only the hum of the many on-board computers being the only sound echoing throughout the entire area. Suddenly, an alarm sounded. The alarm indicated that the return warp gate had just been opened in the launching dock.

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The base's launching dock was the Autobots's way of traveling anywhere on Earth in a blink of an eye. The entire room was like a tunnel, only it had only one way in and out. All of a sudden, with a loud humming noise, a return warp gate, with Big Canyon visible in the background, appeared. A second later, three vehicles in a triangle-like formation appeared in the room. On the bottom left of the triangle was a yellow sports car, with a spoiler on the back. On the bottom right was a white S.U.V. modified into ambulance. Behind the two vehicles was a big red semi tractor trailer truck, which pulled a huge trailer that had treadmills instead of wheels.

As soon as the vehicles appeared and the warp gate closed, three preteen humans got out of the semi truck. The first preteen was a young boy with white skin, short pointy tan hair, and blue eyes. The second one was a girl with turquoise eyes and short brown hair. The final human was another boy, only he had tanned skin, curly black hair, and hazel-colored eyes. All three of them were wearing bright orange jumpsuits that had the Autobot insignias on the back of the jackets. Once the humans, and six little Mini-Cons, were out and a safe distance away, the sports car, ambulance, and semi truck transformed into giant robots that were respectively known as, Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Optimus Prime. Hot Shot and Red Alert are members of the Autobot army of Cybertron, under the command of Optimus Prime, leader and chief commander of the Autobots.

"Alright! Chalk up another victory for the good guys! At this rate, the Decepticons will be defeated in no time!" exclaimed the hazel-eyed preteen.

"Don't get too cocky, Carlos," said the girl in a stern voice, "there is still tons of Mini-Cons scattered all over the world. The Decepticons could still get more Mini-Cons and easily overpower us at any time in the future."

"Hey, chill out Alexis," retorted Carlos, "I was just being positive. Why do you always have to bring everybody down?" The girl was about to respond when she was interrupted.

"Come on you guys, knock it off." said the other boy, "We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves. We just saved another Mini-Con from becoming a Decepticon slave. We should be celebrating and getting along with each other."

"Yeah, I guess you're right Rad." replied Carlos, sheepishly. Alexis nodded in agreement, slightly embarrassed about her brief moment of immaturity.

"But still, you and Sparkplug were awesome out there, Optimus." said Carlos.

"Yeah, the both of you were amazing." added Alexis.

"I'll say!" said Rad "The looks on Megatron and Starscream's faces when you blasted them were priceless."

Optimus just chuckled. "I was just lucky that the Mini-Con that we were looking for was my old partner back when I was on Cybertron. Those were the days, huh Sparkplug?" said the veteran Autobot as he looked down at said Mini-Con.

"_You said it, Prime. I'm just glad that you were the one that got to my panel first, before the jerk Megatron did." _answered Sparkplug, in his Mini-Con language, which consisted of random beeping, dial tones, and other computer noises. Yet, nonetheless, the Autobots and humans could understand every word that the Mini-Cons spoke, as if they were speaking in English.

"Aw man, of all the times to be immobilized by Decepticons, I had to choose the one time when Optimus kicks both Megatron and Starscream's tail pipes at the same time." said Hot Shot, who was still miffed at how that cackling, trigger-happy Cyclonus had trapped him so easily.

"Don't worry, Hot Shot, you'll have plenty of chances to fight the Decepticons." said Optimus, as he placed his hand on the rookie's shoulder. Suddenly, Autobot leader began to spark slightly at various areas of his body, causing the Transformer to grunt in pain. Red Alert quickly began to run a diagnostics scan on his leader.

"Sir, you have sustained a fair amount of damage from your battle. I think it would be wise if you let me start on repairs immediately." Red Alert stated, in a serious tone.

"Thank you, Red Alert, I'd really appreciate it." answered Optimus.

Red Alert then proceeded to help his leader to the med lab, his Mini-Con partner Longarm and Sparkplug following them, when he then turned to face Hot Shot. "I would also like to run a diagnostics on you after I'm finished with Optimus, Hot Shot. You could have been damaged as well."

"What are you talking about? I feel perfectly fine. That cross-wired Decepticon barely even scratched me." said Hot Shot indifferently.

"That may be, but it's always best to be on the side of caution. Who knows, you might have severely damaged your CPU, and not even know." replied Red Alert, jokingly.

"Alright, alright, I'll have the check-up. You don't have to joke like that." retorted Hot Shot in an annoyed tone. He could have sworn he saw the doc bot smirk just as he left the launching dock. "Come on," he said as he looked down at the humans and Mini-Cons, "we might as well head out of here." And with that, Hot Shot, his Mini-Con partner Jolt, Rad, Carlos, High Wire, Grindor, and Sureshock exited out of the launching dock and began to travel down the corridor that lead to med lab. As the group walked on, Rad was still thinking about how he had accidentally restarted the long Autbot-Decepticon war when he activated High Wire's storage panel.

"Hey, Hot Shot?" he began.

Hot Shot looked down at the human, and could see by the expression on Rad's face that something was bugging him. "Yeah, Rad, what is it?" asked the yellow Autobot.

"I was just wondering, exactly how many Mini-Cons were onboard this ship before it crash-landed on Earth?"

Hot Shot thought a little before answering. "To tell you the truth, Rad, I'm not exactly sure myself. But, if I had to had to guess, I'd say there were hundreds of them before the scattered all over the planet."

"No way!" exclaimed Carlos.

"There're really that many Mini-Cons out there?" asked Alexis.

"Definitely." answered Hot Shot, "Due to the velocity of the ship when it entered Earth's atmosphere, the crash scattered the remaining Mini-Con panels all over the entire planet. A Mini-Con could be hidden anywhere."

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Morning life was slowly getting started in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The shops were opening for business, the sun was rising, and the citizens were happily getting ready for the day. One citizen, however, wasn't happy about the new day that was approaching. This citizen's name was Naruto Uzumaki, a student at the Ninja Academy. Naruto was current y sitting on top of the Fourth Hokage's place on the Hokage monument. It was the blonde's favorite spot to visit whenever he needed to think, it was also a place where one can get a view of the whole village. Unfortunately, the only times that Naruto could visit the monument was either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, due to the several times in the past when large mobs of people would gather around below the monument and try to coax him to jump off the top.

But those moments weren't the only instances in which Naruto experienced malice at the hands of the villagers. Ever since the day he was born, Naruto's life was filled with abuse and pain. The people at the orphanage would often assign him several chores that were meant to be done by the employees. The orphanage director made his hatred for the boy clear by giving Naruto smaller portions of food than what the other children got. And whenever Naruto tried to make friends with the other orphans, the employees would beat him severely and punish the children for talking to him. After that, the children avoided him like the plague.

Life for Naruto didn't get any easier when he was finally evicted from the orphanage at the age of ten. What he experienced at the hands of the civilians was nothing compared to what he went through from the orphanage. Whenever he was walking down a busy street, the villagers would shoot him hard glares, and sometimes throw rocks at him. When he tried to buy food or supplies for his apartment, the managers would either charge him triple the normal sales price, or just refuse to do business with him. The worst of the abuse, however, came on his birthday, which was the same day that the Fourth Hokage defeated the Nine-Tailed-Fox demon. On this day, the villagers did a number of things to him, from throwing bricks and rocks through his apartment's windows, to forming large, drunken mobs that try to beat him to a bloody pulp. Luckily, the citizens were smart enough to rarely do the latter action. And on all the times that those idiots did try to beat him up, Naruto was able to give them the slip.

Oddly enough, it wasn't the constant abuse that got Naruto down. No, what really upset the boy was that he had no idea why he was hated so much. And the fact that no one knew anything about his family didn't help either. But, it was this type of cruel lifestyle that drove Naruto to make earning the village's respect by becoming Hokage is dream. To make this dream a reality, Naruto entered the Ninja Academy with hopes of graduating as a full-fledged shinobi. Along the way, he had already made a few friends that didn't seem to treat as the rest of the village did. The first and foremost was the formerly retired Third Hokage. The old man was like grandfather to Naruto, as he was the first one to ever treat him with kindness. Even thought the old man couldn't really do much for him without causing a big commotion amongst the village, Naruto still appreciated the time that the elderly Hokage spent with him. The second and third people that were compassionate towards him were an old man named Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame, who also owned and ran Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, Naruto's favorite place to eat. The two owners never seemed to treat Naruto like the other citizens, and always welcomed him when he came by to eat.

Naruto had entered the Ninja Academy thinking that he would be able to become a ninja in no time. Unfortunately for the whisker-scarred blonde, the teachers at the academy were no better than the spiteful villagers that he experienced on a daily basis. The books and learning materials that he received had most the words scribbled over with pen and several portions of chapters missing. To add insult to injury, whenever Naruto's class was learning how to do the basic academy ninjutsus and chakra control exercises, the instructors would teach him to do them the wrong way on purpose in an effort to make Naruto quit out of frustration. Naruto, however, refused to give up his dream and ended up as the 8th best in his class, despite the instructor's sabotage. This class rank didn't please him, but it was still better than being marked "dead last", which was currently being held by one of his classmates, the lazy Shikamaru Nara

But when it came time for the final exams, the teachers gave Naruto their own exam that was different than the ones given to his classmates; an exam that no genin could ever hope to pass. This caused Naruto to fail the exam twice, and would have failed the third time if it weren't for a teacher named Iruka, who reported this conspiracy to the Third Hokage. As a result, the Third sentenced the teachers to fifteen life sentences in prison for their crimes. Iruka then took it upon himself to drill Naruto with all of the information that he had missed or learned incorrectly, from chakra control exercises to jutsu procedures. Yet, for some reason, Naruto _still _couldn't perform the Clone Jutsu correctly. To make matters worse, Naruto found out that a student's ability to successfully do Clone Jutsu was what determined if you graduated or not. This information was the reason why the young preteen was sitting on top of the Hokage Monument right now.

_'Man, this stinks.'_ thought Naruto sadly. _'Of all of the jutsus that they had to test me on, why did it have to be that damned Clone Jutsu? No matter how hard I practice, no matter how hard I study, I can never get it right. If I don't do something, I'm going to fail tomorrow's graduation exam for the __**third **__time! Then my dream will be completely ruined! I mean, how can I ever hope to be Hokage if I can't even graduate from the Ninja Academy? I thought that the old man took care of those loser teachers that taught me wrong on purpose. But, I guess there're still more of them that Iruka Sensei didn't know about.' _

Naruto figured that he had spent enough time thinking, and decided to head off for class. Just as he was about get and leave, however, he could have sworn he saw, from the corner of his eye, a flash of light coming from behind. It wasn't like a flash from a T.V. screen, but more like the type of flash that's produced when sunlight hits something shiny. Naruto turned around to see if there was something behind him only to be met with nothing. Thinking that he was seeing things, Naruto was about to go when he saw the flash again, only this time it came from the mountain wall.

_'That's strange, I wonder what that is.' _thought Naruto as he went to investigate. As he got close enough, Naruto could see that the cause of the flash was a small pentagon lodged in between two locks of the Fourth's hair that was carved into the wall of the mountain. The pentagon had three different colored layers: the outer layer was a tealish color, the middle layer was light green, and inner core was a weird blue diamond shape that had blue M in the middle and dark green background. Upon touching it, Naruto found out that the foreign object was made of metal. But Naruto had no clue exactly what the thing was.

_'Hold on, I don't remember this thing being there he last time I was here. Is it some sort of Hokage memorial plaque? Wait, if it's a plaque, then why don't the other Hokages have one? Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing this in any of the textbooks, but then again, most of the books I got had a majority of their words blackened out. Maybe Iruka Sensei would know something about this thing.' _thought Naruto. And with that, Naruto tried to pull the pentagon off of the monument. This proved to be a difficult task as it seemed that the pentagon was firmly implanted into the mountain. Nevertheless, with one final heave, Naruto finally got the strange pentagon free. Now that the foreign object was free, the young academy student could see that it was at least the size of a medium-sized tray, but weighed the same as a big text book. It took Naruto both of his hands just to hold it.

"I can't wait to see the look on Iruka Sensei's face when he sees this." said Naruto. "Wait a minute . . . Oh Crap! I'm going to be late for class!" And with that, Naruto stuffed the pentagon into his backpack and raced off to the academy. But he failed to notice that as he placed the pentagon into his bag, that there was a brief moment when it started to glow a dull green light.

_To Be Continued . . . _

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**So that's how it begins. But don't worry; there will be more action in the later chapters. Anyways, before you start flaming, yes I gave Naruto a higher class ranking in the Ninja Academy on purpose. This is because I believe that Naruto deserves better than to always be seen by other people as some idiotic loser that has no idea on what he's talking about. Additionally, if you want to know what the Autobots (and Decepticons) look like in the Armada series, then _seibertron. com_ ****and _transformers_. _wikia. com_ are excellent websites to use. Please R&R.  
**


	2. Contact

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Hey everybody! First of all, I would like to thank all of reviewers for their support. So, without further adieu, here's the second chapter. Hope that you all enjoy it. I don't own **_**Naruto **_**or **_**Transformers Armada**_

'_Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed/really angry yelling

--Blah-- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

**#**- scene change

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**Chapter 2: Contact **

'_Oh crap! Crappity, crap, crap, crap! I can't believe that I lost track of time!' _thought Naruto as he jumped over rooftop after rooftop. He usually took this route since it was less crowded than it was on the streets. This way he could get to his destination a lot faster than he would have if tried to make his way through the crowded streets every morning. And as an added bonus, there weren't any people to shoot him with angry glares on the roofs.

Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes of nonstop roof-hopping, Naruto finally made it to the Ninja Academy. To his dismay, however, he saw that the courtyard was completely empty. '_Crap! I didn't realize that I was that late. Iruka Sensei is going to kill me if he catches me late again!' _thought Naruto as slowly opened the front entrance door of the building, and began to creep towards the classroom that always held his first class of the day. Naruto's relationship with Iruka was what many people would consider to be a complicated one. Iruka, even though he was the one responsible for exposing the academy instructors' conspiracy to the Hokage, didn't believe in giving any student special treatment. This meant that Iruka was more than willing to punish Naruto when he ever failed a test, tried to disrupt class by pulling pranks on him, or , in this case scenario, arrive to class late. Naruto had already been through Iruka's punishments for tardiness to know that if he were caught that he would practically have endure all nine circles of Hell in one afternoon.

'_Hey, maybe this is my lucky day.' _thought Naruto, as he crept closer and closer toward the classroom's doorway. _'Yeah, that's it! Maybe Iruka slept in today, and is just as late as I am. Or maybe he even decided to cancel class for today.' _

"Now Naruto, you should know by now that I would never be capable of such laziness. By the way, you do know that you're fifteen minutes late to class, right?" said voice that sounded like it was directly behind Naruto. Acting on his basic instincts, Naruto turned to see what the source of the noise was, only to be face to face with an angry-looking Iruka Umino. Before Naruto had a chance to move, Iruka, with speed that the blonde had never seen from his sensei before, tied Naruto's arms to his sides with rope that the scarred ninja had with him, causing the boy stubble and then fall to the floor with a crash, with his back on the ground. Naruto tried to escape his bindings through the use of the Substitution Jutsu, and then with the Escape Jutsu, but neither of them seemed to work.

"You might as well save your chakra, Naruto, because there's no use trying to escape by using ninjutsu." stated Iruka. "I infused the ropes with my own chakra so that it'll negate any jutsu that you try to cast. Although, it's good to see that you can perform those jutsu, so maybe your time here wasn't a complete waste of time." And with that grabbed Naruto by the ropes and started to drag the captured student towards the classroom.

'_So much for my lucky day.'_ thought Naruto bitterly.

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The classroom was filled with the conversations of the many students. The moment that they saw Iruka drag the tied up form of Naruto Uzumaki into the classroom, everyone became silent. This silence, however, didn't last long as it was soon replaced with full blown laughter. Even though Naruto occasionally liked to make himself the class clown every once in a while, there were times where Naruto wanted to be taken seriously, and this was one of those times.

'_Thanks a lot, Iruka Sensei.' _thought Naruto, angrily. _'You could have just kept me after class and make me run laps around the village, or make me do chakra control exercises until night fall. But no, you had to humiliate me in front of everyone. Now they'll never take me seriously.' _

After what seemed like another minute of laughter from his peers, Iruka began to speak, which was the signal for everyone to be quiet.

"Naruto," he began, "do you have any idea on why you were brought in tied up?"

Even though Naruto was in trouble, he still wanted a little payback for the embarrassment that he had just endured. "Is it because you wanted to practice your rope-tying skills so that you can quit your job as a teacher and become a rodeo clown?" Naruto asked in an innocent tone. This caused the classroom to erupt into laughter again, only this time, they were laughing at Iruka.

"NO!" shouted Iruka, who had tick marks visible on his forehead. "This is the twelfth time that youarrived late to class! A real upstanding shinobi is always punctual, and takes his work seriously. So, what's your excuse for being late to class, Naruto?"

Naruto wanted to tell Iruka about the weird pentagon that he had found in the Hokage Monument, but decided that it was better to wait after class, when his teacher had cooled down a bit. "I was sitting on the Hokage Monument, enjoying the sunrise and contemplating on the meaning of life." Naruto answered semi-truthfully. This caused the class to renew the laughter that had already died out. This little exchange of banter only made Iruka even angrier.

"AARGH! You've got some nerve Naruto! May I remind you that tomorrow is the day that your class takes the graduation exam, which would make this the third time around for you. I would think that someone that who has already failed the test twice would be taking this matter a little more seriously." finished Iruka, hoping that he had gotten his message through to the blonde. He didn't like being so harsh with Naruto, especially with all that he went through with his past instructors, but someone had to prepare Naruto for the real world, and what the village expected from him.

Naruto, on the other hand, was looking out of one of the classroom's windows. He then turned to face Iruka and said, "I'm sorry, did you say something?", as if he didn't hear a single word of Iruka's lecture. That was the final straw for Iruka.

"Today class, we will start with a review on the Transformation Jutsu. All you have to do is transform yourselves into me." announced Iruka, which brought a groan from everyone's lips. "Hey, don't complain! This is good practice for your graduation exam, so don't take this lightly. Now everyone get in a line by alphabetically order according to your last name." added the scarred teacher. And with that, the class grudgingly got up from their seats and made their way towards the front of the classroom. As they began to get into a line, each student either sent an angry look towards Naruto, or sarcastically thanked him for the tedious punishment that the whole class had to endure because of his tardiness.

"Yep, this day just keeps on getting better and better." Naruto muttered quietly to himself as Iruka freed him from his bindings and he made his way to his place in line. As he got there, some students still wanted to give Naruto a piece of their mind.

"Thanks a lot, loser. Why can't you just arrive on time like the rest of us?" snorted a raven-haired boy, who was wearing a dark blue shirt that had a red and white fan on the back. The boy had a look on his face that practically had "pompous, arrogant jerk" written all over it.

"Shut up, Uchiha, I'm not in the mood to deal with your "mightier than thou" attitude today, so why don't you do us all a favor and just stick your head back up your . . . OW!" What exactly what Naruto was going to say next was never heard as an angry, purple and body-bandage wearing girl, with light blonde hair and sky blue eyes, slapped him hard across the back of the head before the boy could finish his sentence.

"Don't you dare talk to Sasuke like that, you brainless jerk!" shouted the girl.

"Yeah, shut up Naruto!" added a girl with long pink hair and emerald-colored eyes. She was also wearing a red shirt-like skirt with green shorts. This girl was also Naruto's current crush known as Sakura Haruno.

"But Sakura," began Naruto, " I was only . . . "

"I don't care what's your excuse, Naruto!" Sakura said abruptly. "If you ever insult my Sasuke every again, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp!"

"What do you mean _your _Sasuke, Forehead?" asked the blonde girl incredulously. "Sasuke is going to be mine!"

"Get real, Ino-pig!" Sakura shot back. "It's my destiny to live happily ever after with _my _Sasuke!"

"Will you two shut up, or do you I have to make you run laps around the village after class?!" shouted Iruka, who was wise enough to stop the girls' silly bickering before the other members of Sasuke's fan club joined in. The threat was a success, as both Sakura and Ino didn't say another word and waited quietly for their turn to perform the Transformation Jutsu for their teacher. Naruto, on the other hand, was irked at how Sakura had just treated him. No matter what he tried, Sakura always treated him like he was a little kid that constantly tried to get on her nerves, when all he wanted was for her to give him a chance. Naruto thought that if he tried hard enough, then maybe he would catch a lucky break with the girl. But lately, he began to think that Sakura was never going to give him that chance.

"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I agree with Sasuke on this one. If you had just came to class on time, then none of us would be in this situation." said another voice, only this time, it belonged to Naruto's lazy classmate Shikamaru Nara, who was standing right behind Naruto as they waited in line.

"Aw, come on, not you too Shikamaru. Don't tell me that you're siding with Sasuke." said Naruto desperately.

"Hey, don't group me in with those loud, troublesome fan girls. I'm just saying that people wouldn't give such a hard time if you took your lessons more seriously and didn't act out as much." said the Nara defensively.

"Heh, this coming from the only student in this class that fails his tests because he's too lazy to even pick up the pencil?"

"Touché, Naurto. But seriously, a lot of students are betting that you'll just mess up on purpose." added Shikamaru.

This didn't surprise Naruto at all, given the recent turn of events. "Is that so? Well then, I guess I'll just have prove them wrong, won't I?" said the blonde, just as Iruka out called his name, signifying that it was his turn. As Naruto stepped forward, several students began to think several different thoughts.

'_What's this loser going to do now?' _thought the arrogant Sasuke.

'_Ha! This ought to be good for a couple of laughs.' _thought Kiba Inuzuka, with his puppy Akamaru sitting on top of his head. He was expecting that Naruto was going to pull off his Sexy Jutsu again. The dog boy had been laughing so hard that it took him a full half-hour for him to calm down.

'_Please, Naruto has no chance of passing. Sasuke's transformation was perfect, no one can top him.' _thought Sakura, in her usual fan girl mentality.

'_Good luck, Naruto. I hope that you do well.' _thought Hinata Hyuga, as she watched her secret crush, with a small blush visible on her face.

As Naruto stood in front of Iruka, he felt everyone's eyes watching him, waiting for him to make his move. _'Look at them, they're all waiting for me to make a fool out of myself. Well, I 'll show them.' _he thought as he brought his hands together and began to make the necessary amount of chakra that was necessary for the jutsu.

"**Transform**!" was the shout that came from Naruto before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was replaced by an exact replica of Iruka Umino standing in front of the original.

"Very good, Naruto. Well done." praised Iruka as he made a check mark on his clipboard by Naruto's name. Seeing that he passed the review, Naruto cancelled out the jutsu and made his to the back of the line.

"I guess every class clown catches a lucky break every now and then." said Kiba, as Naruto walked past him. Kiba didn't have any sort of grudge against Naruto or anything. Heck, he thought Naruto was hilarious to watch. But none the less, Kiba also enjoyed trying to get a rise out of Naruto when the opportunity presented himself, which in his case was right now. But to the Iunzuka's surprise, Naruto didn't immediately turn around and start shouting at him. Instead, Naruto just stopped walking, and didn't try to attack him. He didn't even turn around to face him.

"Words coming from someone who falls for the same traps over and over again mean very little me." said Naruto in a serious, yet calm voice. And with that Naruto continued walking towards the back of the line, all the while ignoring the angry growls of the dog boy and his little companion that was on top of his head. As Naruto walked further down the line of students, he heard another voice call out to him.

"Cccongratulations Naruto, yyou did really great job." said a quiet shy voice. Naruto turned around to see that it was Hinata who complimented him Hinata was one of the very few people that Naruto tolerated in his class. Unlike most of the girls, Hinata didn't see Sasuke as a god that was meant to be worshipped by everyone. Additionally, she was always nice to him everyday, and was always the first to encourage him whenever he was having trouble with his private training sessions after class was over. Hinata was a true friend that Naruto was glad to have.

"Thanks Hinata," he said, with a genuine smile on his face, "you were pretty good too." This compliment caused the Hyuga girl's blush to become even darker. Naruto noticed this, but wasn't sure to make out of it. It seemed that every time Naruto was talking to her, or even if he looked at her, her face always seemed to get red. Naruto was about to ask Hinata if she was sick or something, when Iruka had announced that the review was over and asked for everyone to return to their seats so that they could continue with the original lesson plan.

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_Seven hours later _

"Alright, class, that's it for today. Remember that tomorrow's the big day, so I want everyone to get a good night's rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and be ready to pass the exam." said Iruka, as he dismissed class for today. Everyone began to back up their things and make their way to the door. Sasuke, as usual, was being flocked by Sakura, Ino, and the rest of his fan girls, all asking him if they wanted to go out with them. Naruto, irked at seeing how the Uchiha was so popular with the girls, was about to follow them when he remembered about the metal pentagon that he found on the Fourth Hokage's monument. So stopped and decided to wait for everyone else to leave before he approached Iruka with the pentagon, in case that he accidentally desecrated the Fourth's monument by removing the metal object. Finally, as the final student left, Naruto walked up to Iruka, was packing up his things at his desk.

"Um, Iruka Sensei," began Naruto nervously, "I was wondering if you could please help me with something."

"Sure thing, Naruto, what's up?" asked Iruka, who was always happy to help Naruto, despite his tough attitude during class.

"Well," Naruto started off, even more nervous than before, "the reason that I was late to class today was because I sort of found something weird on the Hokage Monument that I don't remember seeing there before. And I don't remember seeing it in any of the textbooks that I read, so I was wondering if you could tell what exactly it is." Naruto then proceeded to remove the pentagon from his bag and show it to Iruka. Iruka just stood there, silently staring at the strange object that the blonde was holding out in front of him. At last, after a long period of silence, Iruka regained his enough of his bearings in order for him to talk.

"Naruto . . .," began Iruka.

"Gyah! I'm sorry Iruka Sensei! I didn't mean to disrespect the Hokage Monument! I didn't even know that this thing was part of it! I'll put it back, I swear! Just please don't turn me into the Old Man! I'll wash the Hokage Monument, I'll do any community service project you want for a whole year, just please don't let the ANBU take me away!" pleaded Naruto, all the while hiding behind the pentagon as if it where a shield.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Naruto, slow down. You're aren't in any trouble or anything." said Iruka, trying to calm the boy. "I'm just surprised, that's all. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Are you sure?" asked Naruto, forgetting his panicked behavior instantly. "I thought it could be some ancient shield or something like that."

"No, it can't be." said Iruka. "If it was a shield, or some sort of ancient ninja tool, I would have read about it in the teacher's version of your text books. Naruto, could you turn it over for a second?"

Naruto complied with the request, and flipped it over so that Iruka could exam the back of it. But to Naruto and Iruka's surprise the back had the same design that the front had. Iruka decided to take a closer look at it anyways. "That's strange," Iruka wondered aloud, "there's no ID number, no signature, there aren't even any scratch marks on it at all. I'm sorry, Naruto, but I have absolutely no idea on what this thing is."

"You don't?" asked Naruto, sounding a little downtrodden that Iruka was just as clueless about what the weird object was.

"But I think I know someone who does. Come on, lets go pay a visit to the Hokage." Iruka said as he made his way out of the classroom, with Naruto following behind him, the pentagon tucked protectively underneath his arm. But the two failed to notice that the pentagon once again began to glow bright green for a short period of time before the light faded away once again.

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_Hokage's Office _

The Hokage's office was a place of great importance in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was the very place where the Hokage governs the village and holds conferences with the leaders of other villages. It was also the place where the Hokage does the one thing that every Kage hates the most about being a leader of a village - paperwork! Yes, everyday when there wasn't an international crisis occurring, the Hokage was battling against the evils of the mountains and mountains of paperwork that invade his office everyday.

What the citizens _didn't_ know was that this "battle" wasn't won with one single strike. The past Hokages were actually took breaks in between when ever they were tired, or just didn't want to deal with it. The current Hokage, known as Sarutobi, or as "The Professor", was in such a situation. Unbeknownst to his secretary, and the rest of the village, the formerly retired Third Hokage skiving off from doing his paperwork so that he could read more of his new "Make-Out Paradise" book that he had just recently purchased. "Make-Out Paradise" was the best-seller masterpiece that his former student, Jiraiya, had created himself. Unfortunately, it wasn't as popular with the women as it was with the men. In fact, it was the type of book that was so degrading towards the female gender, that women everywhere vowed to pulverize any man that they saw reading it. It was because of this unofficial vow that Sarutobi made sure that he read the book only in the safety of his office, and made sure that his secretary paged him if there was a visitor that needed to see him, so that he had time to hide the book in case the visitor was a woman.

Sarutobi was enjoying himself as he was reading his book, when the intercom alerted hi that he had visitor from the Ninja Academy that needed to see him about something important. Fearing the worse, the old man quickly marked his place with a book mark, and hid it underneath one of the many scrolls that were in his desk, he then grabbed another document and picked up his pen, and told his secretary to let them in.

As Iruka and Naruto walked into the office, they saw that the Third Hokage was "working diligently" on an important document. As soon as the door closed, Sarutobi looked from his "work" to see who were the visitor. Seeing that it was Naruto and Iruka brought a smile to his face. For second there, he thought it was another prejudiced teacher that was trying to get Naruto expelled from the academy.

"Ah, Naruto, Iruka, it's good to see you two again." said the elder man.

"Begging your pardon, Lord Hokage, but we were wondering if you could spare a few minutes of your time to help us with something." said Iruka.

"Of course, I can always take some time out from my busy schedule to help any villager." said the Hokage, as he tried to move some more documents over his book without drawing any attention. Unfortunately for the man, Naruto's quick eyes caught on.

"Hey, Old Man, what's that orange thing that's underneath those papers? It kinda looks like a book or something." said Naruto, as he pointed to it.

"Uh, it's nothing! Nothing at all! Just some book that I was reading a while ago when I was taking a short break from all this paperwork." said Sarutobi, as he hastily grabbed his perverted book and stuffed it in a drawer in his desk. Naruto, however, knew exactly what "type" of book he was reading, but decided to wait a little bit longer before he would tease the old man later on. Iruka just sighed at his leader's antics, and wondered just how many other books from the "Make-Out" series that the Hokage owned.

"So, what exactly do you two need help with? I hope that this isn't about Naruto being caught red-handed trying to pull one of his pranks, now is it?" asked the Hokage, trying regain his serious composition.

"Actually, it has something do with Naruto, but it's not about some prank he pulled. He found something on the Hokage Monument that wasn't there before, and we were wondering if you could tell us what it is exactly. Go on Naruto, show him." said Iruka. Naruto complied and took the metal pentagon from beneath his arm and showed it to the old man.

The Hokage's expression changed from a curious one to one of puzzlement. "Well now, that is something peculiar. Tell me. Naruto, where exactly did you find this?" asked the Hokage, as he got up from his seat to have a better look at the strange object.

"It was on the Fourth's place on the monument, on the side of the mountain, between two locks of the Fourth's hair. I was thinking that this just some sort of shield that was used during the Ninja Wars." said Naruto while the Hokage was examining the object in question.

"Was there anything strange that you noticed when you found this?"

"Well, yeah, there was. When I first saw it, it looked as if it has been inside the mountain for a long time." said the blonde.

"Interesting." said the old man as ran a hand along the pentagon's cold, metal surface. He then proceeded to look closely at the weird symbol that was in the center of the object. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Naruto, but this isn't any type of ninja weaponry." he said after a long period of studying the pentagon.

"What do you mean?" asked a surprised Naruto.

"I've been in countless battles since the day I became a genin, and I've seen thousands of ninja weapon throughout my career. But never, in my entire life have I every seen anything like this." said the old man.

"Lord Hokage, are you serious?" asked Iruka, who was surprised that even the Hokage didn't know what the object was.

"I'm positive, there's too many differences between our weaponry and this pentagon." the Hokage answered.

"What do you mean _differences_?"

"Well, for starters," Sarutobi began, "our usual weapons are made with fine-tempered steel, where as this pentagon is made out of a metal alloy that I've never seen before. Secondly, this symbol that's in the middle of this object doesn't match with any of our kanji characters."

"So, what exactly does this all mean?" asked Naruto.

"What it means," said the old man, "is that this metal pentagon could possibly be from a world that's entirely different than ours."

As if on queue, the pentagon began to glow a bright green light, just like it did the last two times, only this time the glow was brighter and lasted long enough for the three occupants of the room to notice it. Before they could react, the pentagon then emitted an even brighter and a more multi-colored flash of light that consisted of the seven colors of the rainbow. The flash was so strong that the Hokage, Iruka, and Naruto had to shield their eyes to avoid getting retinal damage. During all of the chaos, Naruto dropped the pentagon and tried to back away from the source of the of the intense light, but ended up tripping over his own two feet, causing him to crash hard on the floor.

Suddenly, as quick as the flash appeared, it disappeared almost instantly. Despite the blinding light being gone, Naruto's eyes still having trouble readjusting to their normal setting. As he looked around, he saw many blurs and was unable to tell who was who.

"Naruto, are you alright?!" Iruka's voice called out. Naruto tried to pinpoint his location, but this attempt also proved futile.

"Yeah, I'm okay, except my eyes are kind of in shock after that flash." Naruto called back. "What about you and the old man?"

"Both Iruka and I are fine, Naruto. Just stay where you are, we'll come to you." said the Hokage.

"Whatever you say." answered Naruto, whose eyesight was gradually returning to him. He was now able to make out distinct shapes around the room. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. As the footsteps became louder, Naruto saw that the source of the noise came from a blue and gray blurry outline of a person.

"Iruka Sensei?" Naruto called out. The figure responded by extending its right hand to Naruto, in way that showed that it was trying to help him up.

"Oh thanks, Iruka Sensei." said Naruto as he gladly took the figure's hand, which then helped the boy to his feet. At that moment, Naruto's vision was almost back to normal, when even more chaos began to ensue.

"Naruto!" screamed a voice behind him. Naruto turned around to see who was talking, only to have the shock of his life. There, standing behind him, at the Hokage's desk was none other than Iruka _and _the Third Hokage, both of which had aghast expressions on their faces.

"Iruka Sensei?! Old Man?! Wait a minute, if the both of you are standing over there, then who's the one who helped me just . . ." Naruto, who was now really confused, turned back around and saw exactly why the two shinobi looked completely freaked out. There, standing in front of him, still holding his hand, was a metal man that was no taller than Naruto himself. The metal man had a blue head with a white face, blue shoulders, blue upper half of its legs, and blue feet. Its arms, lower halves of its legs, and hands were gray-colored. Additionally, there were two sets of grayish wings with orange-colored lines protruding vertically from both the left and right side of its upper back, and perpendicularly on its lower back. Lastly, Naruto noticed that it had orange, pupil-less eyes, and there was a weird orange-colored dome on the man's chest. Before the blonde could say anything, the metal man had already beat him to it.

"_Hello there," _it said, _"thank you so much for awakening me." _

_To Be Continued . . . _

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**In case you're having a hard time picturing Naruto's new friend, then think of **_**Transformers Cybertron**_** Thundercracker, except without the Decepticon symbol, missiles underneath his wings, and the ridiculously long laser cannon for his left arm. Again, **_**seibertron. com **_**and **_**transformers. wikia. com **_**are good websites help you visualize the new Mini-Con.**** Anywho, that's all for now. Peace out!**


	3. First Impressions

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Hi everybody! I own nothing!!!!!**

_Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

--Blah-- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

- scene change

* * *

**Chapter 3: First Impressions **

The alarms in the Autobot's base sounded, its cry echoing everywhere. A second later, the voice of Optimus Prime came on the intercom, slightly louder than the sound of the alarms.

--Attention all personnel, report to the command center immediately. A new Mini-Con has just revealed itself. I repeat, a new Mini-Con has just revealed itself - -

"Hey, talk about perfect timing, huh guys." said Carlos, as he, Rad, and Alexis, along with their respectable Mini-Con companions: Grindor, High Wire, and Sureshock, raced towards the command center. "So where do you think this Mini-Con is located, Rad?"

"Who knows, it can be in a jungle, on the bottom of the ocean, or maybe even a beach." answered Rad.

"Yeah!" said Carlos. "If it's at a beach, I hope that it's somewhere in San Diego. Think about it, we can search for a Mini-Con, _and _meet a couple of babes while we're at it."

"Heck, yeah! That sounds good to me!" laughed Rad.

"Will you two take this seriously? This is Mini-Con's life we're talking about here. If we don't act now, it could become another slave to the Decepticons We don't have time to fantasize about hanging out with girls at the beach. God, it's like you two think that this all just fun and games." said Alexis sternly.

"Hey, will get off our backs already? Man, she's almost an even bigger nag than my mom." retorted Carlos, making sure that he muttered the last part to himself.

"What did you just say?!" asked Alexis, in an angry tone.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" said Carlos quickly, trying avoid any further conflicts with the girl. One of the many things that his father taught him was to never make a woman angry, because it might be the last thing that he ever does.

Rad, on the other hand, was hurt by what Alexis's scolding, and said nothing. Unknown to Carlos and Alexis, but Rad actually had a crush on the girl, and still does to this day. He tried to get her to hang out with him countless times while they were in school, but every time she rejected him, like he was some sort of annoying pest. It only caused even greater damage to his self-esteem whenever she reprimanded him for small things like joking around, or even for coming to base late. It seemed as if he would always end up making Alexis angry or annoyed with him.

As the six of them entered the command center, Optimus Prime, Red Alert, and Hot Shot were already there, trying to pinpoint the Mini-Con's location on the holographic map of the earth that was revolving above them. But for some reason, the map wasn't showing any image of where the Mini-Con was.

"Hey Optimus, what's going on?" asked Carlos. "Why isn't the computer showing us where the Mini-Con is?

"I don't know, Carlos. The Mini-Con might be hidden underneath the ground, making it harder for our sensors to detect it. There's nothing that we can do, but wait patiently for the location to be revealed." replied the Autobot leader.

After another minute of waiting, it seemed as if the map was never going to show them the Mini-Con's location. Suddenly, without warning, the entire map disappeared and the alarms became silent. Everyone in the room were quiet, too shocked to speak. It was Hot Shot that finally spoke up and broke the awkward silence.

"Hey, what the slag was that all about? What happened to the Mini-Con?"

"It's as if it just . . . disappeared." said Carlos, in a disbelieving tone.

"Did the computer crash or something?" asked Alexis.

"No, that can't be it. I always check the computers everyday to make sure nothing is wrong. If there was a problem, I would known about it and fixed myself." said Red Alert.

"Then, could it be a virus from the Decepticons ?" asked Rad.

"I don't think that they're capable of pulling something like this off, Rad." answered Optimus. "You see, before the Mini-Cons's ship, Exodus, landed on this planet, it collided with Earth's moon first, breaking the ship into two halves: one stayed on the moon, while the other went to where we are now. When Megatron and his men responded to High Wire's awakening, they made the half that's on the moon their home base. But since their base is only a half of the ship, that means that their computers are only half as powerful as they would originally be if the ship was still in one piece. Planting a virus requires a very powerful super computer, a lot stronger than the one Megatron has right now."

"So if our computers are fine, and the Decepticons didn't do anything, then why did the Mini-Con disappear like that?" asked Rad.

"I don't know Rad." said Optimus. "I really don't know."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the back side of the moon, things inside the Decepticon base seemed to go along slowly. But it seemed even slower to a certain Decepticon. This soldier was short and stocky, and had treadmills for legs. His hands had gun barrels that also doubled as his fingers, and had two long spikes, one behind the other, on each of his shoulders, which were laser cannons as well. The Transformer's face was brown and had two green eyes, the right one being larger than the left one. His vehicle mode was a Cybertronian missile tank. Add this altogether and you get Demolishor, Megatron's "yes-man" bot.

Out all of the jobs that a Decepticon could get, Demolishor hated being on Mini-Con watch duty. It was so boring, watching the screen, waiting for a Mini-Con to reveal itself. But, Demolisher knew better than to complain to his commander, not after what his superior officer did to Starscream after he disobeyed his orders. But at the same time, he knew that he couldn't just doze off, like his fellow Decepticon Cyclonus did every chance that he got, since Megatron was sitting right behind him on his throne, contemplating on how to best destroy Optimus Prime.

'_This is torture. Why can't Starscream do this job as part of his punishment? I mean, after all, he did disobey a direct order from Megatron, and this job would definitely teach him to be a better, more loyal soldier, like me.' _Demolishor thought to himself. Just as he returned his focus back to the monitor, the little alarm went off, and the small three-dimensional map of the planet appeared on the screen.

"Yes! Finally, something good. Megatron, sir !" called out the tank Decepticon as he turned to the massive figure that was sitting right behind him.

"What is it now, Demolishor? You know that I that I have better things to do than to listen to your mindless thoughts." said the Decepticon leader, in an annoyed tone. He was in the middle of deciding on how to best rule Cybertron once the Autobots were destroyed.

"Trust me on this, sir, this is something that you would want to know." replied the "Yes-Man" Transformer.

"This had better be good, for your sake." said Megatron, as he got up and walked to where the smaller Decepticon was stationed.

"Oh, it is, sir! The sensors had just detected another Mini-Con, sir."

"Well then, where is it? Don't make me wait, Demolishor, I want to get this Mini-Con before those accursed Autobots do."

"Uh, just a second, the computer's still trying to get a lock onto the coordinates." But suddenly, for some strange reason, the alarm went silent, and the computer screen went blank. Demolishor was now feeling really afraid of the position that he was in; he now had Megatron looming over him, expecting the coordinates to the new Mini-Con. The laser tank bot was practically up a creek without a paddle.

"Well, Demolishor, I'm still waiting for those coordinates. And you should know from your experience of serving under my rule that I don't like to wait!"

"Uh, yeah, heh heh. A funny thing just happened, Megatron, sir," Demolishor began trying to avoid setting off his leader's temper, "you see, the computer, sir, wasn't really showing me the coordinates, and as I was about to run a program so that I could increase the intensity of the sensors, the screen went blank, and the alarm turned itself off, sir."

There was an awkward silence between the two tank bots before Megatron spoke again. "You mean to tell me, that you interrupted my important plans just so that you can tell me that** YOU LOST THE MINI-CON'S COORDINATES?!**" said Megatron, in a dangerous voice.

"Well, not exactly, you see . . ." but Demolishor's explanation was abruptly interrupted, as Megatron struck him with a powerful left back hand, causing him to be sent flying towards his left, and landing hard on his back. Before the Decepticon could get up, he then was forced back down onto the base's floor by Megatron's foot. As the poor Demolishor looked up to face his leader, he was met with a pair of orange eyes, full of rage and malevolence, and also realized that Megatron had his large, deadly fusion cannon from his turret pointing directly at his head.

"**YOU INSIGNIFICANT, LITTLE WORM!! I ORDER YOU TO DO A SIMPLE JOB: WATCH THE MONITOR FOR ANY NEW MINI-CONS, BUT EVEN **_**THAT**_** SEEMS TOO COMPLICATED FOR YOU! ARE YOU REALLY THIS PATHETIC, OR IS ALL OF THIS JUST ONE BIG JOKE TO YOU?! WELL, ANSWER ME, **_**DEMOLISHOR**_**! AND I SUGGEST THAT YOU CHOOSE YOUR ANSWER WISELY, BECAUSE I REFUSE TO HAVE UNRELIABLE, INSUBORDINATE GLITCH-HEADS LIKE YOU SERVING IN **_**MY **_**ARMY!!!"** roared Megatron, as he began to charge his cannon for a powerful blast that could destroy the head of an Autobot, or in this case, a bumbling Decepticon. Demolishor watched in horror as he saw the cannon's barrel began to glow purple.

"NO!!! Please, Megatron, sir, don't kill me! I'll fix the computer, I'll search for the Mini-Con on Earth myself, I'll do anything, just please give me a second chance, please!" begged Demolishor, all the while trying in vain to get out of the line fire of Megatron's cannon.

Megatron just growled, disgusted at the soldier's cowardice. But then, he realized that even though Demolishor _was _a coward, he still needed all of his men in order to gather all of the Mini-Cons, and take over Cybertron. With that in mind, he disarmed the cannon and put it away, put still kept his foot on top of Demolishor.

"Then I suggest that you get to work immediately, soldier. I want you to repair the base's sensors, update every single piece of hardware, and find out why that Mini-Con disappeared. And Demolishor, the next time I hear your voice calling me, _I expect to hear positive results from you, understand?!" _said Megatron as he lifted his foot off of the terrified Transformer.

"Yyyes, Megatron, sir, I read you loud and clear!" said Demolishor, getting up to his feet quickly and into a saluting position in record time.

"Then get started, now!" barked the Decepticon leader, as he walked of to stand outside and look out into space. It was his favorite place to go when he wanted to think in peace.

* * *

Naruto could not believe what he was seeing; there was a strange, winged man, that was made out of metal, standing right in front of him, holding his hand. Even though the boy saw the whole thing happen right in front of him, he still thought that he was in some weird dream, and that he would wake in any second now. Meanwhile, Iruka and Sarutobi were just standing, their jaws hanging open in disbelief.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. As Naruto's mind slowly recovered from astonishment, he did what any thirteen-year-old would do at this type of situation: freak out.

**"YYYAAAAHHHHH!"** screamed Naruto as he jumped back away from the metal man and tried to get as far away from it as he could. Unfortunately, he ended up tripping again, and was thus forced to crawl away backwards. The sudden out-burst from the kid caused the metal figure to place its hands on both sides of its head, as if it was covering its ears, and began to back away from the loud child.

Naruto's sudden outburst brought the other two shinobi back to senses. Without a second's delay, both Iuka and the Hokage hurled several shuriken and kunai at the creature, causing it to jump back to avoid getting hit, resulting in the weapons embedding themselves into the floor. Soon the metal man was forced back into a corner, kneeling on the ground, quivering out of fear.

"Iruka," ordered Sarutobi, "go see to Naruto. I'll deal with this creature myself." And with that, the old Hokage, with a kunai in his hand, made his way to the corner where said creature was cowering in fear, it's arms were out in front of it's head and chest, as if it knew of the onslaught that was coming. As Sarutobi came nearer, the man began to emit a string of weird beeping sounds and started to quiver even more.

Naruto, on the other hand, was confused at what was going on. As Iruka came and tried to move him back towards the Hokage's desk, Naruto heard the same voice that he heard a while ago again, except it was coming from the metal man in the corner.

"_Wait! Stop! This is just a huge misunderstanding!' _shouted the metal man. But, to Naruto's surprise, the old man continued to make his way to the metal person, the kunai still in his hand. Naruto looked to Iruka, thinking that he would stop the Hokage, but to the blonde's dismay, Iruka just stood there, with a shaken expression on his face.

'_Why isn't Iruka Sensei doing anything? Can't he and the old man tell that the metal . . .thing. . . is just scared? And why can't they hear it telling them that this whole fiasco is just a misunderstanding?' _

"_No! Please, don't hurt me! I'm sorry if I offend you! Please spare me, I don't want to go offline!' _were the shouts that brought Naruto out of his thoughts. He suddenly gasped as he saw that the Hokage was now in front of the winged man, and started to raise his kunai for the death strike. Knowing that he had to act fast, Naruto wrenched himself out of Iruka's hold on him, and raced towards the Hokage and the metal man.

"Old Man, stop!!" shouted Naruto as he grabbed Sarutobi's arm just in time, before the Hokage could bring down upon the strange creature.

Sarutobi was surprised at Naruto's actions. "Naruto, what do you think your doing?" he asked in a stern voice.

"I should be asking you the same thing." Naruto retorted.

"You shouldn't have interfered." said the Hokage. "This creature has to be destroyed!"

"But why?!" Naruto asked, incredulously. "What did he ever to you, or me, or anyone else in this village?! I'm mean, this guy just got here, and you already deem him a threat, and try to kill him!"

"Naruto, you just don't understand. After this creature appeared, it began to emit an high energy signature that is very similar to our chakra. Added to the fact that such a being as this has never been seen or documented by our forefathers, there's no telling whether it's harmless or a ferocious, blood-thirsty monster. I have no choice but to put an end to it before it puts an end to us." said the Hokage, in a calm tone.

"That's a load of bull crap!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Naruto, don't disrespect the Hokage like that!" shouted Iruka, as he approached the two human, after recovering from the initial shock of everything that happened. "The Third Lord Hokage is veteran of many battles . . ."

"And is starting to let his old age impair his judgment, in a way that he can sometimes miss things that right in front of him." finished Naruto before Iruka could continue. He then proceeded to point at the corner where the metal man was. "I mean, come on, just look at him."

Iruka and the Third Hokage then proceed to look at the corner, and were surprised at what they saw. For the first time since it's appearance, both of the shinobi saw that the winged, metal man was crouching in a fetal-like position on the floor, quivering uncontrollably. This sight brought back several different memories for the two adults. For Iruka, it brought back painful memories of when he was living on his own, ever since his parents died protecting the village from the fox demon. Sarutobi, however, was flooded with guilt. As he looked at the creature before him, he was reminded of the time when he checked up on Naruto when he was still young, through the crystal ball, and saw that he was cornered in an alley by angry mob. Luckily, he and a group of loyal ANBU Black Ops got to Naruto in time before the civilians could even lay a finger on him.

Ever since that incident, the elder Saurtobi always felt guilty about not being more involved with Naruto's life than he would have liked. Sure, he visited the boy a couple of time, and even treated the him to couple of bowls of ramen, but it just wasn't enough. He wanted to do more for Naruto, possibly even train him, but the council members would never let him the hear the end of how he would be "helping the demon".

'_I don't believe it. I've been watching those idiotic citizens for so long that their ignorant tendencies are starting to rub off on me.' _thought Sarutobi sadly, as he lowered the kunai that he was holding.

"See what I mean?" said Naruto, causing the two ninja to break away from their train of thought. "I think that the poor thing is more afraid of us than we are of it." The two men just stood there, letting what Naruto said sink in.

"I see what you mean, Naruto. Perhaps, I did act a bit too hasty." said the aged Hokage. He then went to see if the strange creature was alright, but was once again stopped by Naruto before he could even take a step.

"With all due respect, Old Man, but I think that you'll just scare him even more. Maybe _I_ should go and try to calm it down." said Naruto, in a serious tone, which surprised both Iruka and Sarutobi, since the only time that Naruto was ever serious about anything was his studies in the academy, or when he was setting up another one of his pranks on some unsuspecting citizen. But, given what had just happened, the man figured that Naruto was right.

"Very, well, Naruto." said Sarutobi, as he placed the kunai back in its sheath.

"But, sir, are you sure that's a good idea?" began Iruka.

"It's alright, Iruka." said the Hokage. "Naruto's right, this creature isn't going to cause us any harm. If it was going to, it would have made its move a long time ago."

As Naruto slowly made his way towards the quivering mass of metal, he suddenly found himself extremely nervous. It was easy for him to talk about comforting a strange metallic organism, but actually doing it was an entirely different thing all together. Still, ninjas always had to take risks that could endanger their lives, and Naruto didn't want to look cowardly in front of the Hokage and Iruka Sensei. So, gathering his courage, Naruto tapped the frightened man slightly on the shoulder to get its attention.

"Uh, hey, little guy?" said Naruto. The creature responded by looking up to see who had just spoken and tapped it on the shoulder. But upon seeing Naruto so close to it, it tried to back further into the small corner that was right behind him.

"_Wwwhat do you meat-bags want from me?! I already said I was sorry for offending you! Isn't that enough?!" _it said, all the while quivering even harder than before.

"Hey, hey, hey! Slow down for a second, there. Like you said before, this all just one huge misunderstanding here. You didn't offend us, or anything like that, you just scared us out our minds when you appeared. Neither of us had ever seen anything like that before." said Naruto trying to calm the man down.

"_Do you really mean_ _that?" _asked the man, who stopped its shaking.

"Of course." responded Naruto, as he extended his right hand to creature, just like it did for him. The creature, however, flinched and tried back away from Naruto again.

"Don't worry, none of us are going to hurt you, I promise. We just want to talk to you." said Naruto calmly.

"_Sseriously?" _the creature asked.

"Seriously. If there's one thing that I can be proud of, is that I never go back on my word." replied Naruto, with large smile plastered on his face.

The creature looked at him for moment, studying his features, as if it was trying to tell if Naruto was lying or not, then at Naruto's hand. Then, after a minute of reasoning, the creature accepted the hand, and Naruto helped the creature to it's feet.

"_Thank you for your kindness." _said the winged man, as gave a short, but respectful bow.

"Don't worry about it." said Naruto, nonchalantly. "So, if you don't mind me asking, where exactly did you come from?"

"_I was that weird, metallic pentagon that you found earlier today." _it replied.

"Really? But how did you put up with being in that small space all this time? Wasn't it uncomfortable?" asked Naruto.

"_Not at all."_ chuckled the man. _In fact, I actually find it quite refreshing. You should give it a try." _

Naruto just laughed. "I don't think so. I can't stand sitting still for more than five minutes, let alone being cramped up in such a small space for an indefinite amount of time."

"_Heh, you'd be surprised." _retorted the metal creature.

"I guess. Oh wait, where are my manners? My name is Naruto Uzumaki, an upcoming ninja, and the future Hokage." said the blonde, holding out his hand, which the metal man took it with one his own and shook it.

"_Hello, Naruto Uzumaki, my name is Spitfire, one of the many Mini-Cons from the planet Cybertron." _replied the strange man.

* * *

_With the Hokage and Iruka _

The two adults just stood there, gawking at the conversation that was taking place in front of them. Now in most cases, when two people were having a private conversation, they would have turned around and ignored them, out of respect for their privacy. But those simple rules of courtesy were completely forgotten, considering the thing that Naruto was talking to, and the language that it was speaking in.

The language that the strange, metallic, winged man was speaking in was not like anything that the ninja had ever heard before. It mainly consisted of beeps and other sounds that usually came from a computer's modem. To make things even stranger, Naruto seemed to have no trouble understand what the creature was saying, as if it was speaking their language.

'_Just what is happening here?' _thought Iruka, wildly. _'This is like living in some sort of science fiction movie.'_

'_I don't understand, how is Naruto able to communicate with this creature, let alone understand what it's saying?' _thought a puzzled Hokage, as he and Iruka continued to stare at and try to follow the conversation was taking place in front of him. Naruto, however, caught them staring at him and Spitfire in a weird way out from the corner of his eye, and decided to see what the problem was.

"Hey, don't you two know that it's rude to stare, as well as listen in on private conversations?" said Naruto, in a mock annoyed tone. This brought the two grown men out of their thoughts, and back to reality.

"Naruto," began Iruka, "how can you be talking to that . . . that thing?"

Naruto just looked at his teacher as if he just said something extremely stupid. "Well, first of all, this _thing_ has a name; its name is Spitfire. And secondly, anyone can talk to him if you just listen to what he's saying." he said.

"You . . . you mean you can actually understand what it's saying?" asked the startled chunin.

"Of course I can!" said Naruto, who was getting a bit aggravated with his teacher's questions. "You'd have to be either deaf or stupid _not _to understand this guy!"

Iruka was about to respond, but Sarutobi beat him to it. "What Iruka meant to say, Naruto, is that even though you can understand this strange man whenever he talks, all we hear is incoherent beeping noises."

"What? Are you serious?" asked Naruto, surprised that the others couldn't understand Spitfire, while he could.

"_Huh, I guess the vow is still in affect." _said Spitfire (or beeped in Iruka ad Sarutobi's case).

"Huh? What are you talking about, Spitfire?" asked a curious Naruto, unaware that the two older males were still listening to them.

"_It's the Mini-Con's Vow of Loyalty. A long time ago, we Mini-Cons took this vow to serve only the ones who awakened us, to ensure that we didn't betray our masters in the chance that our enemies captured us." _explained Spitfire.

"Well, translation please." said Iruka who was started to feel aggravated that he was being left out of the conversation. He really wanted to know where the little man was from.

"He said," began Naruto, "that all Mini-Cons, including himself, are under a vow of loyalty that allows only the person that awakens them to understand their language."

"What?! What the hell is a Mini-Con?' asked Iruka, who was even more confused then before.

Sarutobi just sighed. "Naruto, I think that it would be best if you and your little friend explained everything from the very beginning." he said, wisely, as he offered Naruto and Spitfire a seat in front of his desk.

* * *

_A few hours later _

And so began Spitfire's long explanation of everything about the Mini-Cons, and their home planet Cybertron, with Naruto acting as the translator between the ninja and the alien being. After the many questions from both sides, both Iruka and the Hokage were still mulling all of the information over in their heads.

'_I don't believe it, an actual extra terrestrial!' _thought Iruka excitedly.

Sarutobi's thoughts, on the other hand, weren't as enthusiastic as Iruka's. _'If word gets out about Spitfire, the council will be demanding for me to allow them to dismantle him for "research" studies. And given the fact that Spitfire seems to have an energy source that seems to be very familiar to our chakra, Danzo will certainly try everything to get his hands in this creature, and make him into a weapon of mass destruction. This situation needs to be handled very delicately. But, there's still one thing that I don't understand.' _

"Spitfire," he started, "you said earlier that a Mini-Con was like a miniature Transformer, and that each Transformer could change their shape into an alternate "vehicle mode". What exactly does this alternate form look like?"

Spitfire was about to explain about vehicle modes, but he was really tired of having Naruto translate everything that he said. So, instead, he held out one finger, as if to say "wait one moment", got up from his seat and backed away from the desk so as to give himself some room. As soon as he made sure that he had everyone's attention, he sprung into action.

"_Transform!"_ shouted the Mini-Con, as the three humans watched in awe as the android's body twisted and turned until Spitfire was replaced with a small Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet.

Naruto was the first to recover from his surprise. "Spitfire, that is so cool!" he shouted with delight. "But, what exactly is that form?"

"_This, Naruto," _replied Spitfire, "_is called a fighter jet. It's a vehicle that's used to fly through the air at great velocities, and allows you to cover long distances a lot quicker than if you were walking." _

"Awesome!!" exclaimed Naruto. Then he turned behind himself to see that Iruka and Sarutobi confused, and remembered that he was still acting as the translator. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you two can't understand him. Spitfire said that his vehicle mode is called a fighter jet, and that it can fly through the air at really fast speeds."

"_But I'm not giving you three a demonstration." _added the Mini-Con.

"But he's not going to give us a demonstration." repeated Naruto. "Huh? Wait a minute, why not? I want to see if you can actually fly."

Spitfire transformed back into robot mode, looking very sheepish and embarrassed. _"It's . . . kinda humiliating. Promise that you won't laugh?" _it asked.

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" asked Naruto.

The Cybertronian then took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "_I'm absolutely terrified of heights." _said Spitfire.

Naruto just stood there silently for a few seconds before speaking. "Is that all? Spitfire that nothing to be ashamed of. There's plenty of people around here that have same fear as you do." he reassuringly.

Third Hokage cleared his throat in order to get Naruto's attention. He really found the fact that he couldn't understand Spitfire really bothersome. "Would you mind telling us why Spitfire won't fly, Naruto?" he asked.

"Oh, he's has a phobia of heights, Old Man." replied Naruto, nonchalantly. "So, what do we do now?"

Ignoring the "old man" comment, Saurtobi began to contemplate on how to best handle the situation that they were facing, without causing a panic amongst the civilians and ninja. There was no hope of using a genjutsu, since most ninja would just sense it and release it, not to mention that the Hyugas would have no trouble seeing through it.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. But for now, I think that it would be best if Spitfire stayed with Naruto, since he is the only one that can communicate with him. I'm sorry to say this, put in order to prevent a mass panic, Spitfire will have to spend most of your time inside, and out of sight. But. . ." he added as he saw that Naruto and Spitfire were about to protest, "you can go outside, so long as Naruto is with you at all times, and that you wear very large clothes, like a trench coat or a hooded cloak, to conceal your form."

"But, I don't know where to get any thing like that." said Naruto.

"Not to worry, Naruto, I'll send you one in the morning, along with some scrolls about our village's history and ninja, just in case your friend wants to know a little bit more about his new home." replied the old man. "Additionally, as of now, we three, sorry, I mean _four, _are the only ones that know about this, and I want to keep that way, until I can think of another solution. Understand?"

"Of course, Lord Hokage." answered Iruka, with a short bow.

"Yeah, sure thing." said Naruto, giving the elder man a wide smile and a thumbs-up.

Spitfire, knowing that neither of the men would understand him, said nothing but mimicked Naruto, and gave him a thumbs-up as well, earning a chuckle from the old man. _'Perhaps this situation isn't as bad as I first originally thought it would be. Maybe with a little luck and studying, Spitfire might be able to blend with the crowd.' _he thought.

"Very well," he said, "you three are dismissed." As the two humans and one Mini-Con made their way to the door, the Hokage remembered what tomorrow had in store for the young boy.

"Oh, and Naruto . . ." said Sarutobi, catching the blonde's attention, "good luck with your academy graduation exam." This resulted in Naruto to blanch ,slightly, at the thought of what he had to face the next morning. But his worried expression was soon replaced with a small smile a second later, before following Iruka out the door, with Spitfire at tow.

Once he was alone in his office, Sarutobi began to contemplate on all that had happened. _'This all too peculiar. If Spitfire was hidden in the Hokage Monument all this time, then why was only Naruto able to find him? And why did the Mini-Con decide to wake up now, of all times? Could this be some sort of premonition, telling us that hard times about to come?' _he thought, with a huge sigh. _'I'm getting too old for this job.' _

_To Be Continued . . ._

* * *

**So now, everyone, give a warm welcome to Spitfire, Naruto's new friend. Just how will this affect Naruto's life? How much trouble the duo get into? And what of the Autobots and the Decepticons? All this will be answered in the future! Peace out, y'all!!**


	4. Exams

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Hi everybody! I own nothing!!**

_'Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

--Blah-- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

- scene change

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**Chapter 4: Exams **

"_Naruto, wake up. It's time for you to go to class." _said Spitfire, as he tried in vain to wake the sleeping blonde from his slumber. Presently, Spitfire was a bit flabbergasted at his current situation. As he and Naruto made their way to the latter's apartment last night, the blonde had talked endlessly at how important this exam was in order for him to become a full-fledged ninja, and how passing it was one of the many accomplishments that will lead him into becoming Hokage. And yet, when the moment of truth arrived, the boy was sound asleep in his bed.

"_Come on, you loud-mouthed, hairless ape, wake the frag up! You're going to be late !!" _shouted Spitfire, as he grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him fiercely. But, to his surprise, Naruto was still fast asleep. _"Primus, this human is more of a sound sleeper than most of my Mini-Con brethren." _

Spitfire then looked up at the clock to check on how his roommate was doing on time.

_"At this rate, he'll sleep through the entire exam. I've got to do something, but it's impossible to wake this guy." _he said to no one in particular. _"Wait a minute, that Iruka person told me of a few ways of dealing with this sort of situation. Now, what was it that I was supposed to do . . .? Oh yeah, that's it!" _

Spitfire then got to a side of Naruto's bed, and grabbed hold of the lower edge of the mattress. With a mighty heave, the Mini-Con lifted the mattress up at such a fast rate that it caused the slumbering Naruto to fly off his bed, and land with a loud **thud,** successfully waking him up. As Naruto groggily looked to see what had interrupted his sleep, his eyes locked onto to giggling Spitfire, standing behind his bed, the up-turned mattress a few inches in front of him.

"Hey, what was that for Spitfire? I was having one of the greatest dreams of my life until you woke me up!!"

Spitfire just laughed. "_Well, what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't wake you up the regular way, so I decided to follow Iruka's advice. Now get dressed, or you'll miss your exam." _

"Exam? What are you . . . Dammit, I almost completely forgot about my graduation exam!!" shouted Naruto, as began to zoom around his apartment, getting ready for his big day. Spitfire watched in awe at the blonde's newfound speed. In a matter of seconds, Naruto was already dressed in his trademark orange jumpsuit (Spitfire didn't understand why the boy wore that thing, it was way too bright, even for his taste) slurping down a instant cup of ramen. Suddenly, there was a knocking noise coming from the door.

"That's strange, who could that be?" said Naruto, as he went to answer the door. When he opened the door, expecting to see someone, he saw that no one was there. Puzzled, Naruto arched his neck out of the doorway, and looked to his left, and then to his right, trying to see who knocked on his door.

"Hey kid, I'm down here." said a gruff voice. Following the sound of new voice, Naruto looked down, and saw that there was a medium-sized baboon sitting on his doormat, with a folded up coat and a bundle of scrolls beside it. At first, Naruto thought he was dreaming; there was no way that the monkey could've just spoken. But he was soon proven wrong.

"Hey, Blondie! Snap out of it, I don't have all day!!" the baboon shouted, already getting annoyed with the errand that Sarutobi had given him. _'I'm a warrior, not someone's personal delivery monkey. The old fart is going to owe me big time for this.'_ thought the bitter simian.

"Alright, alright, settle down. Cut me some slack here, I've never seen a talking monkey before." said Naruto defensively, all the while trying not to upset the baboon even more. He had heard tales about what these animals were capable of when they got angry. "So . . . how can I help you?"

"The Third Hokage has specifically given me the mission of delivering this trench coat and these scrolls to your 'friend', which is a real pain in my ass. I mean, seriously, why can't this person just go to Sarutobi's office and . . . WHOA!" exclaimed the baboon, as he leaned to its right in order to see inside his apartment, and caught a glimpse of Spitfire standing behind the boy. "Well, there's something you don't see everyday. Now I see why Master wanted this stuff delivered to your house."

"Yes, yes, Spitfire is a sight to behold by everybody. Now, I believe you have a job to do, so if you could stop treating my friend like some attraction at a freak show, it would be greatly appreciated." said Naruto, in a brisk manner.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say." the primeape replied, sarcastically, as he handed Naruto the items to him.

"Wait there for one moment please." said Naruto once the items were inside, and raced out of sight, and into the kitchen. This annoyed the baboon, as he didn't like being kept waiting by anyone besides the Hokage. As he waited, his gaze fell upon Spitfire again, as he began to study the winged man's features. This started to make the Mini-Con feel really uncomfortable being stared at by some rude monkey, and was glad when Naruto came back to the doorway, with something yellow in his hand, and got in between the two creatures.

Naruto then held out his hand, and presented the simian with a banana. "Here's something for your troubles." the boy said. At seeing the fruit, the baboon happily accepted it and started to eat it.

"Heh, you know, you're okay for a human. See ya!" said the monkey with its mouth full of banana, before he vanished away in a cloud of smoke.

"Ooookay, that was weird." said Naruto, as he handed the scrolls and coat to the Mini-Con.

"_Do these sorts of things happen to you all the time?" _asked Spitfire, who still couldn't believe what he had seen with his own optics.

"Eh, don't worry about it. You'll get used to it after a while." the boy replied. As he looked back at the clock, and realized that he had very little time before the exam.

"And with that, I'm off to pass the graduation exam. Anyways, be sure you read the scrolls, they'll help you blend in with the crowd. Once I'm an official ninja, I'll give you a tour of the village. Wish me luck!" And with that, Naruto locked the door, and raced off to the academy. Spitfire just chuckled at the blonde's antics as he unrolled the first of the many scrolls, and began to read.

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_Ninja Academy, after the exam _

'_Why? Why can't I do anything right?' _were the thoughts that ran through Naruto's mind continuously, as he sat on the swing that was underneath his favorite tree, and watched as all of his classmates celebrate their graduation with their families. Naruto had dealt with all sorts of pain in his whole life, but the pain that the blonde was feeling at this moment was by far the worst.

His entire exam had been a complete fiasco. He had first noticed something was up at the written part; he saw that his test paper was cloaked by genjutsu, so that he would be writing down answers that had nothing to do with the real questions. Luckily, he was able to dispel it, and continue on, like nothing had happened at all.

Next, came the sparring session. Each student had to spar an instructor for as long as they could before they were defeated, or the five minute time limit had passed. When everyone was having their sparring session, the instructor purposely held back so that they would have an easier time than they would normally have. The only person that managed to keep on fighting until the time limit was Sasuke, but that was because the instructor was one of the many die-hard Uchiha supporters that plagued the village. Yet when it came for Naruto's turn, the instructor managed to pin the boy down in less than a minute without making it look like he was cheating, and humiliate the boy simultaneously.

Then, it all came down to the jutsu part of the exam. This part made up the majority of the grade and practically determined if you pass or fail. All the students had to do was successfully perform the Clone Jutsu. Naruto dreaded this part, but knew that he had to go through with it anyways. Naruto tried his best, but ended up only making only one copy of himself, and looked as if it had been dead for a very long time. Iruka failed him without a second thought. Surprisingly though, Mizuki tried to get Iruka to pass Naruto out of sympathy, but to no avail.

Now, as he sat on that swing, head facing the ground, he began to rethink his entire life. Since the day he learned about the ninja, and how they were respected by everyone, the boy made it his goal to become a ninja, and then Hokage to prove to the village that he was worth something. All of that now seemed impossible.

'_What have I been doing all this time? Was all of that extra training that I've been doing, all of the that blood, sweat, and tears I shed for nothing? Now what am I going to do? I can't become Hokage if I'm not a ninja. And I can't become a ninja without passing the damn graduation exam.' _thought a depressed Naruto.

The boy was sudden brought out of his thoughts when he felt a faint, but noticeable amount of killer intent being directed towards him. As he looked up, he saw two mothers from the crowd of graduates and their families giving him the stink eye. Deciding not to stick around, the boy put his goggles back on his forehead, and made his way back home. But, unbeknownst to him, four people had been watching him the entire time, which consisted of a concerned Hinata Hyuga, a sad Iruka, the Third Hokage, and a smirking Mizuki.

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_Undesignated training ground, late at night _

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. Mizuki had stopped him after he left for home, to tell him of a special, "all-or-nothing" graduation exam. All he had to do was sneak into the Hokage's office, steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, learn and perform a jutsu from it for Iruka Sensei, and he would become a ninja, just like that. Sneaking inside the Hokage tower was a piece of cake, although he didn't expect the old man to be there and catch him in the act. Fortunately, Naruto remembered the book that the old man had when he visited him yesterday, and was able subdue him. The poor sap never stood chance against Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.

Once he got the scroll and made it to the supposed rendezvous point, Naruto began to start learning the first jutsu that he read in the huge scroll, which was unfortunately the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Even though it wasn't anything like the Clone Jutsu from the academy, he wasn't very enthusiastic about learning it. Plus, this jutsu was even harder to master. Still, Naruto wasn't going to give up that easily. He had already made it this far, and he wasn't willing to back down now.

"Alright," he said, as he got back up on his feet and placed his hands in a ram sign, "this time, it's going to be perfect."

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_With Spitfire, at the same time_

"_For crying out loud, how long does it take to pass one stinkin' exam?" _said Spitfire to himself, as he flipped through the TV's channels with the remote. He had long finished reading the scrolls that the Hokage had sent him, and was quite impressed with the type of culture and life that these humans had. The types of jutsus and abilities that the village's ninja were capable of doing were outstanding. Although he wasn't pleased, and to some degree disgusted, with the special privileges that the village's main clans had, including the "caged bird" seal that the Hyuga clan used on the fellow family members.

Additionally, when he got to the scroll about the founding of the Leaf Village, there was this one clan called the Uchiha that caught his attention. The more he read about them, the more he began to utterly detest the clan. It reminded him far too much of the Decepticons back on Cybertron, always trying to bully everyone into believing what they believed and willing to do anything to obtain more power at any cost. They were nothing compared to the Senju clan, who were the exact polar opposite of the Uchiha. They were clearly the first true shinobi of this village, in Spitfire's opinion.

"_I swear, if that boy is out celebrating with his friends, I'm gonna pound him into a crater." _said the Mini-Con as he turned off the TV, since there was nothing good to watch. Suddenly, there was knocking sound on the door. "_I bet that's him right now." _But when he opened door, he was surprised to see that it was frantic-looking Iruka standing there.

"_Iruka Sensei, what is it? What's wrong?" _asked Spitfire as the human pushed his way inside. Iruka, however, didn't respond and asked a question of his own.

"Spitfire, did Naruto ever come back home after he left for the graduation exam?"

Spitfire just shook his head, deciding not waste time by trying to talk to Iruka in his language. But seeing how Iruka's facial features changed to that of worry and agitation, the Mini-Con knew that something was wrong.

"Damn! I should've known that Naruto would never go back to his apartment after he stole the scroll. He must be somewhere else." said Iruka, all the while pacing back and forth across the floor.

"_Hold on . . . Naruto stole what? What the slag are you talking about Iruka?" _

"Where else can Naruto be?" said the scarred ninja, once again ignoring Spitfire, which irritated the Mini-Con. Then, a thought flashed through Iruka's mind. "The old training grounds! Of course, why didn't I think of that before? With a bit of luck, I can find him in time before the others do." With that being said, the chunin raced outside. Spitfire tried to follow suit, but was stopped by Iruka.

"Spitfire, stay here. If you helped me look for Naruto, someone might see you, and that will only cause trouble for all four of us." said Iruka, before he shut the door and disappeared into the night.

"_Wait, Iruka, wait! . . . Slag it! Why do I have to miss out on everything?" _

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_With Naruto, a few minutes later _

As Naruto was sitting on the ground, scroll strapped to his back, and catching his breath from his laborious training regime, he couldn't help but smile. He had finally gotten the hang of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Now all he had to do was perform it in front of Iruka, and then he would finally be a genin, and be one step closer to becoming Hokage. Suddenly, he heard someone land on the ground a few inches in front of him. When he looked up, he was met with the sight of Iruka Umino, with a large bulging tick mark visible on his head.

"I've got you now, Naruto." he said, his facial features twitching every so often.

"Hey, Iruka Sensei, you're five minutes late." said the blonde.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" shouted the chunin. "This had better not be one of your pranks, Naruto! Because if it is, you're in a lot of trouble!"

"What are you talking about? I'm just doing the 'all-or-nothing' exam. Didn't Mizuki tell you about it?" asked the puzzled boy.

This caused all of Iruka's rage to be replaced with confusion instantly. "What do you mean 'all-or-nothing' exam?" asked the academy teacher.

"Well," began Naruto, "when I failed the first exam and I was going back home, Mizuki Sensei stopped me. He told that there was another way for me to graduate from the academy. All I had to do was steal this scroll, and perform a jutsu from it."

Iruka was now even more confused than ever. _'So Mizuki is behind all this. That would explain why he knew that Naruto was the one who stole scroll before anyone else did. But why would he trick Naruto into stealing the Forbidden Scroll? Just what's he up to?_' But Iruka didn't have much time to think of reason when heard the sound of metal flying through the air, aimed to where he and Naruto were standing. Thinking quickly, Iruka shoved Naruto out a way, just seconds before he was bombarded with kunai knives. The force of the barrage sent him flying back until he hit the side of an old hut.

Ignoring the pain that was now coursing through him, Iruka looked to see who launched the attack, only to see an arrogant-looking Mizuki standing on a tree branch. He had two large shurikens strapped to his back.

"So, you're the one that's behind all of this." growled Iruka, as he began the painful process of pulling out the kunai that were embedded into his body.

Mizuki just smiled smugly. "Heh, so now you know what's really going on. But, like always, you're far too late to do anything about Iruka." The blue-haired man then turned to the boy, with a dangerous look in his eyes. "Naruto, hand over the scroll, now."

"No, Naruto, don't do it!" shouted Iruka.

Naruto was completely confused to what he should do. "What are you two talking about? What's going on?!"

Iruka was the first to respond. "Mizuki lied to you, Naruto! He was never going to give you another exam, he just wanted you to steal the forbidden scroll for him!" shouted Iruka.

"What?!"

"Oh please, is that the best you can do, Iruka?" sneered Mizuki. "Don't listen to him, Naruto. Scarface is the one who's lying. He's been against you this whole time. Every since you entered the academy, he's been trying every trick he knew to make you drop out. He even went as far as to pretend to be on your side by exposing that teacher conspiracy."

"Shut up! You're the one that's lying, you traitor!" retorted Iruka.

"Tell you what, Naruto, if you give me the scroll, I'll tell you about the secret decree that was made by the Third Hokage twelve years ago."

This got Iruka even more riled up. "Don't you dare, Mizuki! You know that we're forbidden to speak of it!"

Naruto was now even more confused. "A decree that was made twelve years ago? I've never heard of it."

"Of course you didn't." replied the traitor. "Part of the decree was that you had to be completely oblivious about its existence."

"Why? Why couldn't I know about it? What was the decree about?! Answer me!!"

"NO! Don't do it, Mizuki!" pleaded Iruka

After a dramatic silence, Mizuki just smirked before he spoke up again. "The decree was that you could never know that the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon was sealed inside of you on the day you were born."

All time seemed to stop for Naruto. All of his life, he had wondered why everyone seemed to utterly despise him for no reason, and now after a few seconds Naruto finally knew why. The answer, however, wasn't what he had expected. Mizuki had to be kidding; there was just no way that the monstrous fox was inside of him. That was impossible, right?

"Wwwwhat did you say?" asked Naruto weakly.

"DON'T!" shouted Iruka, as he tried in vain to stop the renegade.

"I said that you're the responsible for the attack on the Leaf Village twelve years ago and death of Iruka's parents. To put it simply: you _are _the Nine-Tailed Fox demon!"

"STOP IT!" roared Iruka, but Mizuki paid no attention.

"Ever since our Fourth Hokage sealed your fate, you were seen as nothing more but as the reincarnation of that damned beast that killed so many of our people. I mean, come on! Didn't it seem odd that everyone in the village despised you so much? Didn't you ever wonder why everyone that you encountered wanted you to die?! Hell, even Iruka hates you! He may not admit it, but he wants to kill you for taking the lives of his parents and leaving him alone in the world!!"

"Nno . . . NO! NO, NO, NO, NO NO! I'M NOT THAT MONSTER!!" shouted Naruto, as he chakra flared to life. Tears were slowly appearing in his eyes, even though the boy was trying very hard to hold them back.

'_Naruto . . .' _thought a distraught Iruka as he watched all of Naruto's anguish surface right in front of him. The man couldn't stand to see Naruto in so much pain, and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

Naruto, on the other hand, was having a complete mental breakdown. _'Now it all makes sense.' _he thought._ 'All those times that people called me "demon" and "monster", they were right. They were right all along, I am an abomination. I should've just let them kill me!' _

Mizuki's smirk morphed into a sneer as he watched the blonde boy drop to his knees, the mental torment visible on his whisker-marked face. It always gave the man great pleasure to see the little demon bastard suffer. But he had a schedule to keep with Orochimaru, so he decided to kill the monster and take the scroll to the Hidden Sound Village that was still under construction. So without any further hesitation, he pulled out one of his large shuriken and began to spin it until it looked like a miniature spinning saw blade.

"DIE DEMON!!" shouted the rogue ninja, as he flung the weapon at the blonde. Naruto saw the weapon hurtling towards him. He knew that he had to get out if the way, but he couldn't get his legs to move and ended up falling onto the ground. As the shuriken approached closer and closer with each passing second, Naruto closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact. In matter of seconds, Death would finally come to put an end to all of his misery.

He heard the sound of metal hitting flesh, yet for some reason, he didn't feel any pain at all. At first, he thought that the attack was quick and painless, but was proven wrong when he felt some sort of warm liquid splash on his face. Curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto opened his eyes to see that Iruka had shielded him the giant ninja star, which was sticking in his back with blood dripping from the wound.

Mizuki scowled at Iruka's actions. It made him sick to his stomach whenever someone tried to help the demon that deserved to die. Naruto just looked up at his teacher with shock visible in his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity to the boy, he finally spoke up.

"Why?" he asked the man. "Why did you take the attack for me? I'm the fox demon. I attacked the village. I killed thousands of ninja, including your parents! Why are you protecting me?!"

Iruka said nothing as he yanked the shuriken out of his back, causing the pain to intensify through his body. After he waited for the pain to subside, he looked down at Naruto, who saw that there were tears in his eyes.

"Because you're _not _the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, you're a young boy that's going throught the same thing that I did when I was your age." said Iruka, tears streaming down his face. "I know what it feels like to be all alone, Naruto. It's the harshest pain that anyone can experience. I know that my constant yelling and scolding had only made it worse for you. And I know that the real reason that you act out and pull pranks is so that you could escape the pain that you experience everyday. Please, forgive me, if I were a better person, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Iruka didn't hate him because of his connection with the Nine-Tailed Fox, he saw him as a regular kid that had a rough life. It took a while for Naruto to process this new development since this sort of thing rarely happened to him. Part of him wanted to whoop for joy now that he had another precious person in his life, while another part of him thought that Iruka was just distracting him and was waiting for the right moment to strike. Naruto didn't have time to come up with his own conclusion, as Iruka was sent flying by a kick from Mizuki. Iruka crashed hard against a tree, causing the pain in his back to worsen. As he looked into the traitor's eyes, Iruka could see that insanity was slowly getting the best of his former comrade.

"You're really _are _something, Umino. You had the perfect opportunity to take revenge against the demon that killed your parents, and yet you risk your life to protect _it_! Your parents are probably thrashing in their graves right now." sneered Mizuki.

"Don't you dare say that!" snarled Iruka. "The only thing that my parents would be ashamed is how you disgraced everything that a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village once stood for!"

Mizuki's sneer changed to that of a demented grin followed by maniacal laughter. "Think what you like Iruka, cause in a matter of seconds, you'll be joining your beloved parents in the after life." snarled the crazed ninja as he withdrew his last shuriken and began to spin it to finish off his former friend. But, he unfortunately failed to sense the kick that was aimed for his face, until he caught it with his peripheral vision just seconds before it crashed into his nose and sent the ninja skidding across the ground. Once he stopped moving, he was looking into the eyes of an angry Naruto standing a few feet front of him with the scroll still strapped to his back.

"You stay away from Iruka Sensei, **OR I'LL KILL YOU!!" **shouted Naruto.

"Naruto, you fool! Forget about me, just get out of here with the scroll!" screamed Iruka. He tried to get up again and help his student, but cringed and fell back down once another wave of pain hit him.

"Oh, so the little demon wants to go down fighting, eh?" snarled the now-insane Mizuki. "Well that's fine by me! It's about time someone ended your pathetic life!!"

"Just keep talking, jerk, and you'll soon be reduced to a mangled, bloody pulp." said Naruto, as he placed his hands into a cross fingers seal.

"Oh yeah?! Well, bring it on, DEMON SCUM!!" exclaimed the traitor as he foolishly charged, intending to finally rid the world of the monster that stood before him, without even noticing the large amount of chakra that the boy was calling upon.

"**Ninja Art: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" **Suddenly, a large puff of smoke filled the area, temporarily blinding both Mizuki and Iruka. Once the smoke disappeared, the two adult males couldn't believe their eyes. They were surrounded by thousands upon thousands of Narutos. This new development brought out mixed reactions from the ninja.

'_I . . . Incredible! Naruto was able to use Shadow Clone Jutsu, the advanced version of the Academy-level Clone Jutsu. And there's so many of them, too! It's hard to believe that he's managed to master a jutsu that difficult in such a short amount of time.' _thought Iruka, who was still shocked to see what Naruto had done.

Mizuki, on the other hand, was freaking out. What started as a simple plan turned into a complete fiasco. His plans of a quick getaway were dashed. Everywhere he looked, there was an furious-looking Naruto blocking his way. As the army of blonde boys that surrounded him in a large circle began to close in, the blue-haired traitor began to panic even more.

"What's the matter, Mizuki, you bastard?" said all of the Narutos at once. "What happened to all of confidence that you had earlier on? I thought that a _demon _like me could never stand a chance against you." Mizuki just stood there, quivering in fear. "You know, Mizuki _**Sensei**_, I've been putting up with all that crap that you and your little buddies dished out to me back at the academy: purposely teaching me the wrong way how to do jutsus, always testing me on things that no genin could possibly ever know. Those are the types of things that I _might_ be willing to forget. But attacking the few people that are dear to me **IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE!!**"

With a loud battle cry, the Narutos charged towards the center of the circle, where the unlucky traitor was standing.

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_Undisclosed location _

It was a normal night in the forest. All of the animals were sleeping. All seemed quiet and peaceful, that is, until a loud, agonizing scream filled the air, disturbing the tranquility.

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_Back with the humans _

With a finishing punch to the face, Mizuki crashed to the floor, unconscious and with bruises all over his body. There was even blood dripping out of his nose and mouth. The original Naruto was standing over him, breathing heavily but looking fairly pleased with his handy work.

"Arrogant son of a bitch, serves him right for trying to betray the village and then use me as the scapegoat." said Naruto, in a hard tone.

Iruka just sat there, leaning against a tree, trying to take in all that had been played out in front of him. He was still getting over the shock of Naruto creating so many Shadow Clones, let alone being able to beat a chunin to a bloody unconscious state. Even though Naruto had the element of surprise at his advantage, it was still an amazing feat for someone his age. Additionally, Iruka was astonished with Naruto's strength in character. When the boy learned about the Demon Fox, Iruka half-expected him to run away and use the scroll to exact his revenge against the village. But instead, Naruto stayed and saved him from meeting his end at the hands of Mizuki.

Iruka felt bad for Naruto. All the kid wanted was to graduate and become a ninja, so that he could make a better life for himself. He had so little in his life, and almost everyone that he encountered did everything they could to bring him down. To make matters worse, Naruto never had anyone to rely on, nor experienced the undying love from a parent. Yet, despite all of that, Naruto refused to give up on his dream.

'_To the hell with proper academy procedures, Naruto deserves to be a ninja.' _thought Iruka, as he slowly got to his feet. "Naruto, come here for a minute. There's something that I want to give you."

Naruto wasn't sure what his sensei was up to, but obeyed the request anyways. "Now then stand still, and close your eyes. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, just trust me." Iruka added when he saw the questionable look Naruto shot at him. Again, Naruto decided to humor the man. Once he had his eyes closed, he felt the goggles that he was wearing slip off his head. A few seconds later, he felt something cold press against his forehead and a cloth being tied behind his head with a quick yank.

"Okay, Naruto, you can open your eyes now." As the boy complied, the first thing that he saw was that Iruka was missing his headband and was holding Naruto's goggles. Naruto reached to his forehead and felt the cool sensation of a metallic surface that had a spiral-like leaf design on the middle of it, instantly recognizing what was tied around his head. He thought that he was dreaming.

"Congratulations, Naruto, you are now an officially a newly instated genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. After we sort out all of this mess, we can go out to Ichiraku's." said Iruka, with smile on his face

At first, Naruto just stood there, letting the information sink in. Then, in a blink of an eye, with of tears running down his cheek, Naruto became an orange blur and tackled Iruka into a hug, all the while ignoring the older man's yelps of pain.

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_Hokage Tower_

The Third Hokage just smiled as he watched scene between Naruto and Iruka through his crystal ball. He had seen everything, from Mizuki revealing his true colors as well as Naruto's secret, to Naruto beating the living crap out of the chunin turned traitor. It saddened the veteran that Naruto had find out about his burden so soon. He knew that he had to have a talk with the boy after he and Iruka returned to the Hokage Tower. The Hokage's sadness turned to fury as he saw Mizuki attack the boy while he was down, but was relieved when Iruka saved Naruto. He was glad there was another person besides himself that actually cares about the boy.

But what surprised the old man the most was when Naruto performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu and completely pulverized Mizuki. He also agreed full-heartedly with Iruka's decision about making Naruto a ninja. He knew that the council would never let him hear the end of this, but he didn't care anymore. Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of the Leaf Village, decided that it was high time for him to remind the council that _he _was in charge of this village, not them. As he relit his pipe, Hiruzen walked outside to alert the ninja that the search for Naruto and the scroll has been called off.

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_Naruto's apartment _

While all of this was going on, certain Mini-Con was flicking through the T.V. channels once again, all the while fuming about certain blonde knuckleheads and scarred morons. Even though he only started living in this strange world for only one day, he hated being cooped up in place for long periods of time.

"_I swear to Primus, when those two come back, I'm going to give them a piece of my . . . Sweet, a martial arts movie!" _said Spitfire, instantly forgetting his rant and focusing his attention to the movie in the screen.

_To Be Continued . . . _

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**So that's all for now. Next time, we'll see how Naruto and Spitfire interact with a young Sarutobi as well with a certain Uchiha and his horde of annoying fan girls. See ya!**


	5. Interactions

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Hi everybody! First off, I would like to thank everyone for their support. Quite frankly, I thought that this story wouldn't be very popular. But in this case, I'm glad to be proven wrong. Thanks again, everyone. I own nothing!!!!!**

'_Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

--Blah-- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

**# **- scene change

**55555**

**Chapter 5: Interactions **

It all started off as another bright and sunny day. It was the also the day when Naruto had to go get registered as a genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Unfortunately, Naruto had no idea exactly what that required out him. First, he had to fill out the required paperwork that asked for all sorts of personal information. Next, he had to get his picture taken for his profile. He originally wanted to make his picture more interesting by having his face and hands painted white with red spirals, but Spitfire had convinced him otherwise. And by "convinced", it meant that the Mini-Con had threatened to destroy all of Naruto's instant ramen if he messed up his photo on purpose.

Currently, Naruto was waiting on a bench that was stationed outside of the conference room where he was supposed to meet up with the Hokage. To the blonde, this was one of the harshest forms of torture, as he never liked sitting still for an extended period of time. Fortunately, he wasn't alone, as Spitfire was right there with him, sporting his new trench coat and hat that hid his form completely.

"Man, this is so boring." complained Naruto. "I'll be practically a grandpa by the time the Old Man is ready to see us."

"_Quit your whining, Naruto. Being a ninja is a serious matter, and should not be treated as something so trivial. You represent Leaf's main forces, and it would send out the wrong type of message about the village if foreign ninja saw you acting like some whiny little child."_ said Spitfire sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." replied Naruto in a bored tone, as he turned his head to the left and focused his attention back to the entrance of the conference room.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Naruto, the secretary that was sitting at the desk across from the duo was glaring at the boy as if she would've liked nothing more than to kill him right where he sat. Like the many idiotic morons in Leaf, she saw the boy as nothing more but the fox demon reincarnated. This action, however, did not go unnoticed by Spitfire, who shot a glare of his own back at the secretary. The secretary, sensing someone staring at her, turned to the figure wearing the trench coat and screamed when she saw a pair of bright orange eyes glowing dangerously at her.

Hearing the sudden noise, Naruto turned around and saw what the commotion was all about. Naruto quickly slapped Spitfire behind the head, breaking the eye contact between the small robot and the woman.

"Heh heh, sorry about that ma'am. He was just showing off his new sunglasses." said Naruto sheepishly, hoping that the dumb woman would believe him. Luckily, the secretary decided to take his word for it, and returned to her paperwork. Once he was sure that she wasn't looking, Naruto grabbed the lapel of the coat, and jerked it so that the Mini-Con was facing him.

"Why the _hell _did you do that, Spitfire? Are you trying to get yourself noticed!?" hissed Naruto in a low voice.

"_She was glowering at you, just like all of those other idiotic villagers that see you as that damn fox demon! She had no right to be looking at you like that! " _whispered Spitfire.

"Look, Spitfire, I really appreciate what you're doing, but you can't terrorize every single person that gives me the stink eye."

"_Why not!? They're deliberately opposing the Third Hokage's law and ignoring the Fourth Hokage's last wish for you to be seen as hero. These people deserve to have their lives be made into a living hell, if not taken away, for what they've put you through! Give me one good reason why I should just ignore them!" _

"Because, if you retaliated, then you'd no better than them." replied Naruto. There was an short pause as Spitfire tried to think of good comeback to refute Naruto's argument, but nothing came to the Mini-Con.

"_Fine, I won't glare at the female, even though she deserves it. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever understand why you put up with all of this, Naruto." _sighed Spitfire.

Relief washed over Naruto as he was able to subdue the Mini-Con's newfound urges for vengeance, at least for now. All of this started when he, along with Iruka and the Hokage, went back to his apartment and explained everything that was said and done last night. To say that Spitfire was miffed about Naruto's treatment from the village's population was an understatement; it took the combined strength of the boy, Iruka, and the Old Man in order to prevent the jet-bot from bolting out and pulverizing everyone in the village.

After the three humans had successfully calmed the small robot down, the Hokage quickly gave a more detailed explanation of the situation, which proved to have both positive and negative results. Now that Spitfire was aware of Naruto's "condition", he had more respect for what the boy had to go through every day, as he once knew what it was like be seen as a mindless monster that was meant to be used as a weapon. Unfortunately, this also caused the Mini-Con to become increasingly hostile towards anyone that dared to do anything that was considered spiteful towards Naruto, even if it was looking at him strangely. Because of this, Naruto had to hold his metallic friend back countless times before any real damage was done.

Suddenly, the door opened and a man poked his head out. "The Hokage will see you now." he said, and then popped back inside the conference room.

"Finally." said Naurto. And without another word, he got up and began to make his way to the door. But as he was about to enter, he realized that Spitfire wasn't following him since he couldn't hear his footsteps. Looking back, he saw that Spitfire's gaze was once again set upon the already uneasy secretary.

'_Dammit, Spitfire!' _thought Naruto, as he doubled back, and proceeded to push the robot towards the office, all the while Spitfire's eyes never leaving the woman until the door was closed.

**55555**

_With the Hokage _

'_Looks like another fool has provoked Spitfire. I just pray that Naruto was able to stop him before he exacts his "retribution" for their crimes.' _thought the aged Hokage as he watched Naruto push the cloaked figure through the doorway. _'To think that the he was once an innocent, little creature, curious about the world we live in.'_

Yet, it still made Hiruzen happy to see that yet another person cared about Naruto, even though said "person" was an alien robot that occasionally displayed vicious behavior towards certain people. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about those things. He had a job to do, and decided to focus his attention on the situation that was in front of him.

"Well now Naruto, it's good to see you again." said the elderly man as the blonde sat down on the chair that was in front of the Hokage's desk and Spitfire walked up beside him. "I trust that you didn't experience any problems going through the regular procedures."

"Actually, it was pretty easy, Old Man." replied Naruto, a fox-like smile plastered on his face, which was quickly replaced with a pained expression when Spitfire connected his fist with the top of the boy's head.

"_Naruto, don't call him that in public!" _reprimanded Spitfire. _"He is your commanding officer, show him some respect!" _

"Ow! Okay, okay, don't blow a gasket." The sound of a throat being cleared caused the two to focus their attention on Hiruzen and his assistant, who was sitting behind a desk in front of them.

"Now that I have both of your attention, we can get on with the business at hand." said the Hokage. But unknown to him, his assistant, or the two guests, the door was slightly ajar and there was a pair of eyes watching the old man's every move.

"First of all," he continued, "I would like to express my surprise that you didn't try to ruin your picture with your pranks, Naruto. This isn't like you at all."

"Well, lets just say that I had some . . . _motivation _before I had the photo taken." replied the young blonde, as he shot a look at the cloaked figure that was standing to his left. Spitfire didn't notice, as he was staring through the window with new found interest. The Hokage could only chuckle.

"Furthermore," Hiruzen continued in a serious tone, "I would also like to discuss the _jutsu _that you used to incapacitate me last night when you snuck into my office."

Naruto knew which particular jutsu the Hokage was referring to. But, since he didn't get the gratification he wanted with his photo prank, the blonde decided to have a little fun with the man in front of him.

"I'm sorry, but what jutsu are you referring to?" he replied in a falsely innocent tone.

"You know quite well what I'm referring to, young man. I'm talking about the one jutsu that can knock out any heterosexual male in a matter of seconds just by looking at it."

"Ooohhhh, you mean _that _jutsu."

"Yes, yes, _that _jutsu." said the flustered Hokage. "Even though I'll admit that can be useful in certain situations, I must advise that you use it sparingly in the future. Many kunoichi would be very offended if they were to see you perform it in their company."

Suddenly, the door was violently slid open, and small eight-year-old boy wearing a strange helmet and scarf, with a shuriken in his hand, barged into the room and charged towards the Hokage.

"Prepare yourself, old man!" the kid shouted. "Because I challenge you for the title of Hokage!" But after taking six steps towards his target, the boy tripped and crashed face-first on the hardwood floor. Everyone just stared at the boy who was now in his side cringing in pain. All the while each of the four occupants had different reactions to the failed attack on the Hokage.

'_I don't believe this. This is the ninth time this month that my grandson had tried to overthrow me and take my place as Hokage. You would think that Konohamaru would've learned by now that he has a snowball's chance in hell of actually succeeding. Just what in the hell is that blasted Ebisu teaching him?" _

The assistant just stared at the boy that was the ground, not exactly sure on what to make of the entire situation.

"_Hey Naruto, what the slag just happened?" _whispered Spitfire.

"To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on. But, I can say this; that kid has issues." replied Naruto. Just then, a lanky man that was wearing his headband as a bandana, along with the normal shinobi gi, and a pair of round sunglasses.

"Honorable Grandson, are you alright?" said the lanky man, before he turned his attention to Hiruzen. "I'm so sorry that this happened, my lord."

"Oh, I get it. I must have fallen for a trap, right?" said Konohamaru as he got up on his knees.

"Uh, no Honorable Grandson, there aren't any traps anywhere in this entire room." replied Ebisu. Then he glanced at Naruto, and immediately his worried expression turned into a glare. _'Just what the hell is the __**thing **__doing here? Don't tell me that the Hokage is actually going to let it become a ninja!'_

Spitfire, who once again saw some idiotic human glaring at his friend, glowered back at Ebisu. This resulted in a dramatic stare-down between human and Mini-Con. Konohamaru, being the young impressionable child, mimicked Ebisu and looked to see who his private tutor was glaring at. When he saw that it was an older boy sitting in a chair, he assumed that he was responsible for his failed sneak attack.

"YOU! You're the one who tripped, aren't you? Thanks to you, my plans are completely ruined!" screamed the child as got to where he was merely inches away from touching Naruto's face.

Instantly, Naruto sprung into action and seized the Konohamaru's shirt collar and lifted the little boy off his feet. "What!? Did you crack your head or something, shrimp-o? You tripped over your own two feet! And besides, what made you think that you could defeat the old man that easily!?" he retorted.

"Hey you little heathen, put him down right now!" shouted Ebisu. "Do you known have any idea who that is? That boy that you have in your grasp is none other than the Honorable Grandson of our Third Lord Hokage! Now unhand him you filthy delinquent, or I'll . . ." but what Ebisu was planning on doing was never known as he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Spitfire approaching him with his glowing glare intensified, all the while cracking his fists menacingly. For a split second, Ebisu was frightened out his mind, before he prepared to defend himself from the would-be attacker.

"Hey, hey! Don't even think about it." Naruto interjected at the cloaked robot, effectively stopping it, before he turned his attention back to the smirking boy that he was holding up.

"Go on, hit me! I dare you to!" shouted Konohamaru. _'But I know that you won't. No one has the guts to even lay a finger on me.' _he thought smugly. But he was soon brought out of his thoughts when he felt himself fall on the floor butt-first.

"Idiot! I could care less if you were the Old Man's baby brother!!!" shouted Naruto, who then whacked the boy hard on the head with his fist, earning a pained yelp from the boy. Ebisu looked as if he was going to have a heart attack; no one with a decent brain would even _think _about harming his student. Spitfire, on the other hand, didn't really care as the little boy was starting to get on his nerves. The Hokage merely looked passive about what had transpired in front of him, but was silently thinking about the consequences of Naruto's action.

"Hey Old Man, is there anything else that we to talk about, or are we done here? I have plans with my friend here, and they don't include standing here all day." he said as he motioned to where Spitfire was standing.

"No, we are quite finished. Just remember to arrive at the academy at 8 AM for team placements."

"Great! I guess I'll see you later, Old Man!" and without another word, Naruto started to head towards the door, but then had to back-track and retrieve Spitfire when he realized that the he was still in a glare-off with Ebisu. So with Spitfire in tow (whose eyes were still locked onto Ebisu) Naruto left the office. As soon as the strange pair left, Ebisu decided to immediately lecture his student about how he should pick fights with people that are beneath him(even though in his opinion they deserved it), but only to find that Konohamaru was no where to be seen.

"Oh no! Where has the Honorable Grandson run off to now!?" screamed Ebisu, who was panicking that he had lost the Hokage's grandson, right in front of the man no less.

"I believe that he snuck out to follow Naruto." answered the Hokage in a bored tone. As he watched the Elite Jonin run out of the room, Hiruzen began to wonder just how much trouble could his grandson possible get if he caught up with Naruto. _'Hopefully, Naruto won't teach Konohamaru anything __**too **__inappropriate.' _he thought.

**55555**

_With Naruto and Spitfire _

"_Are all meetings with the Hokage as random as ours was?" _asked Spitfire, as he and Naruto were walking down an empty alleyway.

"No, they're usually really boring." replied Naruto. "So, are you ready for the tour?"

"_Definitely, I've been cooped up in your apartment for far too long." _

"Spitfire, it's only been one day since you moved into my apartment."

"_And that's more than enough for me! I've been inside a cramped storage panel in stasis mode for centuries before you came around. Do you have any idea how just one more day of staying in another enclosed area is like?" _

"Point taken, my metallic friend." chuckled Naruto.

"_So, where are we heading off to, first?" _

"I figured that we start off by the Ichiraku Ramen Bar first, and then head inwards."

"_Okay, sounds good. So when are you going to do something about that little midget? He's been following us ever since we left that conference room." _Spitfire said quietly.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it right now." Naruto whispered, before quickly whipped around to deal with the annoying kid. But as soon as Konohamaru saw the genin's movement, he immediately pressed himself to the fence that was on his left, and draped himself with a cloth that was disguised top look like his surroundings (which was the fence in this case). But, being the young kid that he is, he failed to realize that he was holding the drape wrong, so that the boards were shown being horizontal instead of vertical, effectively making him stick out like a sore thumb.

"Will you knock off!? I know that you're there, and that disguise of yours isn't fooling anyone!" shouted Naurto. Konohamaru remained still, hoping that Naruto was just saying that and that he hadn't really seen him. "Come on already! Quit trying to fool me, because it's not working!" hollered the blonde.

Realizing that the jig was up, but still wanting to keep what was left of his pride, Konohamaru lowered the drape with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"So you saw through my disguise, huh? I guess what they say about your superior skills is true." said the boy in a confident tone.

"Yeah, yeah, nice try kid, but flattery gets you no where in the real world." said Naruto, who had a clear idea on when someone was playing the brown-noser routine(after observing the civilians' behavior towards Sasuke). "Oh, and for future references, whenever you use these camouflage drapes, make sure that they actually _blend in _with your surroundings." he finished as he pointed to the horizontal fence board design on the drape and then to the vertical facing boards of the fence. The kid visibly blanched at how easily his disguise had stood out. But when he turned his attention back to Naruto, he realized that he and the mysterious figure were already leaving.

"Hey, hold on for a second! You can't leave now, boss! You have to make me your student and teach me that jutsu you used to defeat my grandfather!" exclaimed Konohamaru as he chased after the duo.

Naruto just turned around to face the kid. "Look shrimp-o, I don't have time to teach you anything right now. I already promised my friend here (Spitfire gave a short wave when Naruto gestured to him) that I would give him a tour of the village, so I don't have time to play around with little munchkins like you." And with that, Naruto continued on to Ichiraku's, or at least tried to when the kid latched onto his leg.

"Oh please, just give me one chance, boss! I promise that I'll work real hard and that I won't let you down!" pleaded the boy, as his grip on Naruto's leg intensified as the genin tried to shake Konohamaru off him. But then, a realization flew into the blonde's head: here was the "Honorable Grandson", practically begging for him to be his instructor. Many older shinobi would consider this to be an honor, and could possibly help convince the Third that he would be the best choice for a successor. But that wasn't what really got his attention. No, the most important factor was that the kid reminded Naruto so much of himself: hyper attitude, determined as hell, always looking for any way to improve his skills.

"_Hey, Naruto," _said Spitfire, bringing the boy out of his thoughts, _"what do you want to do with this kid?" _

When Naruto looked down at the kid in question, he found himself a victim of Konohamaru's "Puppy Dog Eyes" routine. At that moment, he knew he was beat.

Naruto looked at his cloaked companion. "You don't mind having him tagging along?"

"_As long as he doesn't try anything funny, then I don't really have any problem at all." _replied the Cybertronian.

Naruto then turned his attention to the kid that was still attached to his leg. "Okay, okay, you can come with us." he said. "And along the way, you can sow me what that idiot of a teacher taught you. Then, based on my observations, I _might _teach you something for you to use against your grandpa."

The effect was immediate; Konohamaru immediately released Naruto's leg and began to jump and down, all the while joyously cheering. Naruto, on the other hand, was wondering what exactly had he gotten himself into.

**55555**

_A Few Hours Later _

After the addition of Konohamaru to the group, the rest of the day went along smoothly. Like Naruto had said before, the tour started at Ichiraku's where Naruto introduced Spitfire to Teuchi and Ayame. The two ramen chefs were very ecstatic to meet Naruto's new friend, as they already knew how hard the blonde's life was already. Spitfire was pleased as well to find two more people that didn't make his roommate's life a living hell. When the restaurant owners saw that Konohamaru was with them, they immediately started treating him like any normal civilian would. They had offered to serve him for free, but the boy respectfully declined so as not to take time away from his training with Naruto. As the group was leaving, the young Sarutobi did promise father and daughter ramen chefs to come back another time.

Next, the trio traveled further into the village, with Naruto pointing out certain buildings such as weapons stores, banks, and other important buildings. Along the way, Naruto had been drilling Konohamaru about what that closet pervert of a sensei (a.k.a. Ebisu) had taught the little boy already. Fortunately, the boy already knew about the main principles about chakra and how to perform the Transformation Jutsu. But he didn't exactly how good Konohamaru was at the jutsu, since a successful Sexy Jutsu solely depended on whether the caster knew how to use Transformation correctly or not.

"Alright, Konohamaru, listen very closely to what I'm about to say," began Naruto, which instantly got said boy's attention. Spitfire also turned to face his tour guide, as he was curious as to how ninjutsu was actually taught. "This jutsu," the genin continued, "has only one prerequisite: mastering Transformation. Even though it sounds pretty trivial, Sexy Jutsu would otherwise be a complete waste of chakra if you didn't know this jutsu. So first of all, I need to see how well you can use Transformation."

"Okay, Boss! But, what do I transform into?" asked the young Sarutobi.

Naruto looked around the surrounding area trying to find someone for Konohamaru to copy their appearance, until he spotted a young woman with brown hair and wearing a blue kimono standing in front of a fruit stand. "Over there, transform into the girl over there." the blonde said as he pointed at the girl in question.

"Roger, Boss!" answered Konohamaru, as his hands made the tiger hand sign. "**Transform!**" The boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke and was soon replaced with a small and extremely obese version of the original girl.

"Well, how did I do?" asked the girl, in a deep voice that clearly didn't belong to a woman. The reactions from the two slightly taller figures were mixed. Naruto just stare at Konohamaru without showing any readable emotion, while Spitfire was shaking from trying to contain his laughter (beeping).

"_That looks nothing like her! I mean, a protoform could do a better job than that!" _he said in between "snickers". His laughter was soon silenced when Naruto bonked him on the head. The boy then turned to face the boy/girl, the unreadable expression still on his face.

"Well . . . you _did_ manage get the hair and kimono right . . . and you _kinda _look like her. . ." Suddenly, Naruto felt a small spike of killer intent coming from behind him. As he turned around, he saw that the source of the killer intent was coming from the woman that Konohamaru had tried to mimic. She had somehow gotten behind both Spitfire and him without any of them noticing. As Naruto continued to gaze at the angered woman, he saw that her eyes had flashed white and that she was grinding her teeth in pure fury.

" I. Do. Not. Look. Like. THAT!!!!!" screeched he woman as she brought her fists down upon the top of Naruto and Spitfire's heads, causing them to crash to the ground. Konohamaru immediately cancelled out the jutsu, and prayed to the gods that the lady didn't direct her wrath towards him next. But to his surprise, the lady just smiled at him, and then bowed politely to him.

"Honorable Grandson," she said cheerfully, the next time you try to disguise yourself as me, please try not to make me look ugly."

"Oh, uh, alright." said Konohamaru quietly, as he was disappointed that his jutsu failed. But as the woman walked away, the young boy noticed that the woman was massaging the hand that she had hit Spitfire with. As soon as she was a safe distance away, both Naruto and Spitfire slowly got up.

"How do you like that," grumbled Naruto at Konohamaru, all the while rubbing the spot on his head that was assaulted, "You're the one that messed up big time, and we're the ones that pay the price."

"_Yeah, tell me about it." _groaned Spitfire. _"I think she put a dent in my head." _

Suddenly, realization dawned on the genin. "I surprised that you didn't attack that woman for hitting us, Spitfire." noted Naruto.

"_Of course I didn't hit her! Back on Cybertron, it is frowned upon whenever a male ever strikes a female for any other reason besides self-defense." _explained the Mini-Con.

"Yet, you have no trouble frightening secretaries in ways in that can draw unwanted attention to yourself."

"_Okay, first of all, I only did that to defend you, out of the kindness of my spark. Secondly, scaring someone and beating a person to a bloody pulp are two completely different things."_

"Hey, hold on a minute!!!" shouted Konohamaru, as he pointed towards Spitfire. "How the hell can you understand him, boss? All I hear is a bunch of noises."

"Uuuhhhh . . .," began Naruto, as he tried to think of a reasonable excuse for his Mini-Con companion. "Well, Spitfire can understand our language very well, but he comes from a clan that speaks in a dead language that very few know of its existence. . . And I, uh, I'm the only one in this village that can understand it, thanks to some old scroll I had that explained everything about the language . . . But I accidentally lost it. So that's why your grandpa made me Spitfire's guide to the village, heh, heh." finished Naruto, who was mentally beating himself up for being so clumsy in his explanation. Thankfully, fate seemed to be in his favor for now.

"Really?! You can understand a dead language!? That is so cool, boss! I knew I made the right decision in choosing you as my sensei!" exclaimed Konohamaru.

"Yeah, yeah I guess it is." said Naruto sheepishly. "Anyways, onward with the tour, we still have a lot of ground to cover."

"Right, boss!" shouted the young Sarutobi, as he ran ahead of the group. Once he was out of earshot, Spitfire spoke up.

"_Smooth lying there, Naruto." _

"Hey, at least he bought it." was the blonde's reply.

**55555**

_At the Ninja Academy _

As Naruto led his group to the Ninja Academy, he was currently trying to cope with a massive headache. The cause of this headache could basically summed up by one name: Konohamaru. Throughout the tour, Naruto had been finding random girls for Konohamaru to disguise himself as. And each time the little kid transformed into an uglier, scratch that, _fuglier _versions of his original target. Luckily the trio managed to outrun the angry women before they could exact their vengeance on them. Well, more like Naruto and Spitfire, since the women wouldn't have _dare _harm a hair on Konohamaru's head.

'_I don't believe it; nineteen different tries, and he still can't correctly transform in a girl! Either Closet Pervert sucks a private tutor, or Konohamaru is in need of some serious therapy. Or maybe it's a little of both.' _thought Naruto. As he looked to his left, he saw that his "apprentice" was looking very glum. This caused the blonde several flashbacks of when he had failed the genin exams. Each time he failed, he felt like he had failed himself and that he had no real purpose at all. Being the one with the most experience with failure, Naruto stopped the group near the tree and tire swing (with a wooden fence a few feet behind it) that was one of his favorite places and finally spoke to the little boy.

"Hey, don't get so depressed just because you messed up today. All you need it a little more practice, and I'm sure that you'll get Transformation down in no time." said Naruto, reassuringly.

Hearing this, Konohamaru's mood seemed to brighten up. "Do you really mean that, boss?" he asked, hopefully.

"Of course you will. Besides, you're already doing a lot better than me when I was your age. But there's still one thing that I want to ask you: why are you so intent on defeating your grandfather? I mean, did you two have a big argument or something?"

Konohamaru's expression suddenly darkened before he answered the question. "When I was born, I named after our village, Konohagakure. Ever since then, whenever people saw me, they would always recognize me as 'Honorable Grandson', and never by my real name. I can't stand it, it's as if the never see me as for who I really am. That's why I have to defeat my grandfather and become the next Hokage. That way, people would finally respect me and see me as Konohamaru Sarutobi."

Naruto just stared at the boy before he started laughing. This only mad the eight-year-old mad.

"Hey!! Why the heck are you laughing??!!" demanded the angry eight-year-old.

"I'm sorry," said the blonde in between laughs, "but that has got to be the most pathetic reason for someone to be Hokage."

"And why is that??!!"

"Well first of all, the title of Hokage belongs to the strongest ninja in this village that's willing to put his life on the line for the sake of his village. You just can't become something like that in just one day. I mean, are you seriously ready to make decisions that could have thousands of lives at stake?" When Konohamaru didn't answer him, he continued on. "And besides there's one thing that you didn't take into consideration."

This finally got Konohamaru to pay attention to the genin, who was smiling at him.

"If you want to become Hokage, then you're going to have to go through me, first!" said Naruto in a confident tone. Konohamaru just stared at the blonde before him. Never in his entire short life had he ever met someone like him. He not only treated him like a normal person, but he had also brought up some points about the Hokage that he had never really thought about. To top it all off, he declared that his goal was to become Hokage as well.

While of this was going on, Spitfire was observing the two young humans that were in front of him. Konohamaru may have seemed to be a brat at first, but the Mini-Con realized that he was just a lonely little boy that just wanted to be treated like a normal kid. He was even just as rambunctious as Naruto. Speaking of Naruto, Spitfire had also noticed something about his friend. Despite having a life full of hostility and senseless hatred aimed towards him, Naruto never gave into his hatred and always seemed to be able to bring out the best of someone, even if it was a complete stranger. Those were the kind of qualities that were quite rare on Cybertron. But Spitfire didn't get a chance to ponder about what it would be like if Naruto was on Cybertron, as his thoughts were rudely interrupted.

"Oh please, _you _become Hokage? Hell would freeze over before that would ever happen." said a snide male voice.

"Yeah, loser, there's no way that the village would ever pick you as the Hokage when there are more skilled ninja around like Sasuke." said a more shrill and condescending feminine voice.

The trio turned around to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha, along with Sakura, Ino, Ami, and a bunch of other girls from Naruto's class that made up Sasuke's fan club. The girls were currently either smugly smirking at Naruto, or gazing at Sasuke with hearts in their eyes. Even though Naruto was a little disappointed to see that Sakura was amongst the Uchiha's fan girl horde, he wasn't in the mood to deal with their stupidity today, not when Spitfire and Konohamaru were around. Spitfire wasn't pleased at all with the Uchiha's attitude, and was trying his best to resist the urge to beat the crap out of the one person that reminded him so much of the Decepticons. Konohamaru just looked from Naruto to Sasuke waiting for something to happen. But he didn't have to wait too long.

"Just what are you doing here, loser? Are you getting ready for another year at the Ninja Academy?" asked Sasuke spitefully, which caused the conceited fan girls to erupt into a bout of cruel laughter. Sasuke had expected Naruto to erupt and make himself look foolish in front of everyone, that way he could have more fun in utterly destroying the loser's self-esteem. But to his disappointment, Naruto just turned around, and motioned for the little boy and cloaked figure to follow him. This angered the Uchiha prick to no end; he was an Uchiha elite and this nobody was ignoring him like he was some commoner.

"Hey, Uzumaki!!!" shouted Ami. "Don't just walk away when Sasuke is talking to you!!!" This caused the rest of the girls to voice their agreements quite loudly, but Naruto took no notice to any of them. Coincidentally, the noise had drawn a certain young Inuzuka, Akimichi, and Nara to the scene. Unknown to any of them, there was also a shy Hyuga girl hiding behind one of the bushes that was near the tree. Having enough of being ignored, Sasuke rushed towards Naruto.

"Hey loser, get back here! I'm not finished with you!" shouted the Uchiha, as reached to grab the blonde's shoulder in order to prevent him from walking away. But before Sasuke could so much as even touch him, his hand was quickly batted away, then was suddenly shoved back by a palm-heel strike from the cloaked figure that was about the same size as him. As the figure turned around to fully face him, Sasuke realized that the mysterious figure had glowing orange eyes staring at him dangerously, but couldn't make out his face because of the combined concealment abilities of the trench coat's turned up collar and a hat. This only made Sasuke even angrier, having this other nobody stand in his way. Of course, the stranger's action did not sit well with the Uchiha's fan club.

"You bastard! How dare you lay a hand on Sasuke like that!" screeched Sakura.

"Sasuke deserves your respect, you asshole!" added Ino.

"Don't just stand there Sasuke, kick their asses!" screamed a stupid brunette. Thus caused the entire club to shout out similar obscenities towards Naruto's group, and other encouragements for the Uchiha to teach the losers some manners.

**55555**

_With Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba _

"Man, those girls sound like their going to rip those two apart!" observed Choji, as he, his best friend Shikamaru, and his classmate Kiba were watching the drama in front of them unfold. Even though they were a few feet away, they could hear everything that was going on. Choji then turned his attention to his peers. "Don't you think that we should do something to help Naruto?" he asked.

"Nah, it would be just too troublesome to get involved in this type of situation, especially when it comes to Sasuke's fan club. We'd be outnumbered ten to one, and we might even make the situation even worse for Naruto." drawled the lazy Nara, who was praying to Kami that he didn't end up on a team with either the Uchiha or one his fan girls. Though he was interested in who was that cloaked person that stood up to Uchiha; that person was either very daring or was just asking for trouble.

"Yeah, and besides," started Kiba, as he watched the cloaked figure and Sasuke begin to walk in a wide circle, their eyes never leaving each other. "I want to see what this guy can do. Maybe if we're lucky, Mr. Trench Coat here will knock Sasuke's pride down a couple of notches." The puppy on top of his head barked in agreement.

**55555**

_Back with Naruto, Spitfire, and Sasuke _

"You've got some nerve to try and start something me, freak. Do you know who am?" said Sasuke, arrogance clearly present in his voice, as he finally stopped his circling with his back to the fence. The figure also stopped his circling and ended up facing Sasuke, still as silent as ever. "Hey, answer me when I'm talking to you! Or are you as deaf as you're stupid? And what's with that stupid trench coat, trying to look like you're 'all that'? Because if you are, then you're failing miserably; you look just as pathetic as your orange-wearing loser of a friend."

Sensing the upcoming onslaught, Naruto quickly rushed over to intervene before Spitfire could react. "For _your _information, Sasuke, my friend here is a visitor from a prestigious martial arts clan from a distant country, and is wearing his clan's uniforms. As for why he's not talking to you, it's because he's most likely taken a vow of silence, or that your breath stinks worse than bullshit." said Naruto, the last remark on infuriating the Uchiha girls.

Sasuke, however, just smirked. "If he's _really _from a prestigious clan, then what is the clan called?"

"It's . . . the Cybertronian clan, but it's been completely wiped out for decades. He is literally the last of his clan."

"Is that so? Well then, lets just see how _prestigious _this Cybertronian clan really is. Fight me, right here, right now." said Sasuke as he got into his clan's taijutsu stance. This brought out excited cheers from the girls. Spitfire just tilted his head to the right, as if to indicate that he had misheard Sasuke's demand. Naruto, on the other hand, was a bit more vocal with expressing his discontent.

"What stunt are you trying to pull, you bastard?"

"You heard me, idiot. Honestly, how many times must I repeat myself? I want to see what this Cybertronian clan is capable of in actual fight, even though I already know who will win. No clan is mightier than the Uchiha." proclaimed the jerk.

"Sasuke, he is a _visitor _and member of a _non-ninja _clan, not some person that you can bend to your demands." said Naruto, who was losing his patience with the egotistical "Rookie of the Year" very quickly.

"Then I shall give him the honor of being defeated by the last of the Uchiha. Hell, I'll even let him throw the first punch." replied the Uchiha as he walked up to Spitfire until he was at an arm's length away from the Mini-Con. He then turned his head to the right so that his left cheek was facing Spitfire. At this point, Spitfire found himself facing two possible options. Option A was to take the shot and knock the Uchiha's head off. Unfortunately, he also knew that Sasuke was the last of the "loyal" Uchiha, and if he did anything to hurt him, the council would try to blame Naruto and demand that his ninja rank be revoked; or even worse, try to execute him. Option B, on the other hand, was to just ignore the little bastard and walk away. But, he didn't like the idea of exposing his back to Sasuke, not even for a second.

"Come on, Sasuke," started Naruto, "for once in your life, could you _not_ act like a conceited asshole that has a stick rammed up his ass. You practically have this whole village worshipping the ground you walk on, what more could you possibly want?"

"Hn, I can't believe it. This is a new low for you, Naruto." replied Sasuke, still not moving from his position. "Although, I can't really say that I surprised. After all, one can only expect so many failures and pathetic skills from a idiotic, worthless, piece of garbage such as yourself. Do the entire village a favor, and just quit trying to . . ."

Sasuke never got to finish his speech, as he was abruptly interrupted by a cold, hard, metallic fist colliding into his exposed cheek at break-neck speeds. Suddenly, all time seemed to go by in slow motion as Naruto, Konohamaru, and everyone else watched as Spitfire's right fist slammed into the Uchiha's jaw, which created a couple of cracking sounds, and caused the boy to start to fly back from the brute strength of the strike. When time seemed to flow at normal speeds again, Sasuke's body immediately shot back as he continued his trajectory, and crashed through the fence that was behind him, the force of the crash as well as the punch rendering him unconscious before he even hit the ground. Spitfire just stood in the same spot from the beginning of the "brawl", his outstretched fist still quivering in anger before he finally retracted it back to his side after a few seconds.

Everyone there just stood there, trying to overcome their shock and to comprehend on what had just happened. That is, until Naruto noticed several white objects laying on the ground in front of Spitfire. He bent down to retrieve the objects, only to be shocked at what he held in his hand: the objects were Sasuke's teeth! Looking up from his hand, he focused his attention to the form that was a few inches behind the fence's huge gaping hole. Even from where he was standing, Naruto could see blank spaces in the Uchiha's mouth where teeth used to be. The genin made himself a mental note to never piss off Spitfire. Konohamaru was the next witness to recover, as he was immediately by Naruto and Spitfire shouting how amazing that punch was and began to reenact in an over-dramatic fashion.

A few seconds later, Naruto heard familiar-sounding laughter coming from behind him. Turning around, Naruto realized that Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba had seen everything. Kiba was on the ground rolling from side to side on his back, practically howling with laughter, with Akamaru wagging his tail happily while sitting next his master . Choji, was just smiling as he was eating a bag of chips that he seemed to pull out of nowhere. Shikamaru was slouching with his hands in his pant's pocket, and had an expression on his face that clearly said "how troublesome". But that look soon changed into a panicked one.

Confused to why the sudden change in facial expressions, Naruto suddenly had an idea of what the cause was when he felt large amounts of killer intent coming from his right. Fearfully, Naruto slowly turned to see that the entire Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club was seething with rage, and sending deadly glares at the trio. Naruto could practically see flames burning behind them, making them look like blood-thirsty demons from hell.

"NARUTO!" screamed Sakura and Ino, as the group slowly began to approach the trio. Naruto knew from plenty of experiences that angry fan girls only meant one thing: pain, and a lot of it. Slowly, Naruto backed away from the converging horde, pulling Konohamaru and Spitfire along with him all the while making sure that he never took his eyes off of the girls.

"Naruto, this is all your fault!!!" screamed Sakura, as she balled her fists, preparing for the beating that she was going to send towards Naruto.

"Yeah, because of that son of a bitch you call a friend, Sasuke got hurt!!!" shouted Ino. This brought several shouts of agreement from the other girls as well.

"Aw come on, girls. How is any of this my fault?" asked Naruto sheepishly. "I mean, after all, it _was _Sasuke who started the fight and . . ."

"SHUT UP!!!!" screamed a red-headed girl. "Stop trying to weasel yourself out of getting the beating that you so righteously deserve!!!" And as the mob approached closer, their killer intent seemed to double.

Naruto was so scared that he was about to grab Spitfire and Konohamaru, and make a break for it. But he knew that they were heavily outnumbered, and all three of them would be caught by the mob in mere seconds. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

"Now wait a minute," he began, drawing the posse's attention, "what if I were to offer you all something in exchange for not beating us into a bloody pulp."

"HA! What could_ you _possibly give us that will convince us to spare you?!" asked Ami incredulously.

"Well, it's something . . . that was once personally owned by Sasuke himself, but was just recently thrown away by him."

"Oh really? Just what is it exactly?" asked Ino.

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, the thing. Well, you see . . . it's actually . . . justSasuke'steethherecatch!" he shouted quickly, as he threw the teeth at the crowd. The teeth clattered onto the ground. The majority of the girls, being the brainless Uchiha worshippers that they were, screamed in delight of having the opportunity to add something that was actually _inside _Sasuke's mouth to their mini-shrine, and immediately began to fight over the precious Uchiha teeth. Sakura, Ino, and a few other girls, however, weren't so easily distracted. Once they finally broke free of the pile up, they saw Naruto, Spitfire, and Konohamaru running for their lives.

"I'm gonna beat the crap out of you, Naruto!" roared Sakura, as she chased after the fleeing trio.

"Not unless I get to him first, Forehead!" screamed Ino, and soon she and the remaining girls followed suit of the Haruno.

"Man, those girls look _really _angry. I wouldn't want to be in Naruto's sandals right now." said Kiba, who had finally stopped laughing after he felt the killer intent coming from the girls. Akamaru whined in agreement; he knew what Naruto was facing after witnessing a few arguments between his master and the alpha female of the Inuzuka clan.

"Come on, guys, we can't just stand here and do nothing." said Choji.

"Don't worry about it Choji, Naruto can take care of himself. And besides," paused Shikamaru, as his eyes lingered at a certain bush before he saw someone run in the direction that Naruto's group and the girls ran down, "I think Naruto's got all the help that he's going to need."

**55555**

_With the Fleeing Trio _

"Keep up with me, you guys, or else they'll tear you to pieces." shouted Naruto, as he was pulling his two companions along with him. Spitfire and Konohamaru, of course, didn't need to be told twice, as the swarm of angry girls behind them was a very good source of motivation. Luckily none of the villagers decided to get to involved with the chase since the girls were taking care of the situation themselves. That, and they themselves were afraid of getting in the way of the angry fan girls.

"Why did you have to knock Sasuke's teeth out, Spitfire!?" shouted Naruto, as the group rounded a right bend.

"_The son of a bitch had it coming, and you know it." _replied Spitfire. _"I mean, what makes that Uchiha think he can get away with anything!?" _

"We'll talk about it later. But right now, let's just focus on getting away from this angry mob." said Naruto. Up ahead, there was a four-way intersection that lead to various places throughout the village. Seeing this an opportunity for a quick escape, Naruto sprung into action. He quickly made up six shadow clones, and then had four of them transform into two Spitfires and two Konohamarus. Just as they reached the intersection, the masses of Narutos, Spitfires, and Konohamarus split up into three separate groups (each one copying the original trio) and each took off down one of the three possible roads, with the original trio taking the left path.

When Sakura saw this, she was momentarily shocked to see Naruto use some sort of Clone Jutsu. But these clones weren't illusions; they could actually walk for crying out loud! Since when did Naruto know any jutsus that were this advanced? If it had been Sasuke who performed the jutsu, it would've been believable, since she knew that Sasuke was perfect in every way **(AN: delusional much)**.

"Forehead, where the hell did Naruto go!?" Sakura was brought out of her musings with a loud shout, which came from none other than Ino, with four more fan girls behind her. There would've been more of them, but the other girls tired out after merely a minute of chasing Naruto's group.

"How the hell should I know, Ino-pig!? He used some weird Clone Jutsu to hide his friends and then each group went down one of these three pathways." said Sakura.

"Then what are we waiting for!? Lets find those bastards and make them pay for their crimes!" shouted a freckled girl, with short black hair. Without a moment's hesitation the six girls paired off, and followed the different groups down the streets. Unfortunately for the real Naruto, both Sakura and Ino had decided to take the left street.

Meanwhile, a few feet further down the left road, Naruto had just sensed to chakra signatures closing in on them at a rapid pace. To make matters worse, the signatures belonged to the two people that he wanted to avoid the most.

'_Crap! I was hoping that those two would've given up by now.' _thought Naruto. He then turned his attention back to his charges. "Okay guys, pick up the pace. We got two angry fan girls catching up to us. And these aren't just any fan girls, these two are the leaders of that emo prick's fan club."

The group soon came across another fork in the road. As Naruto trying to decide which way to go, Konohamaru spoke up for the first time since the chase began.

"Boss, go left. It's a shortcut to Training Grounds 17." said the boy. Since he himself had no idea where to go, and that Sakura and Ino were closing in on them fast, Naruto led the two down the left path. At first, Naruto thought their troubles would soon be over since training grounds provided excellent hiding spots. But, as fate would have it, the trio ended having to stop at a dead end.

Naruto turned behind him to glare at the boy. "I thought you said that this was a shortcut!!" said Naruto, incredulously.

"It is! I mean, it was! That wall was never there before, I swear!" said Konohamaru. Naruto knew this a lie since he could see that there were a line of large buildings one either side of the pathway, with a few dumpsters scattered around. This could only mean one thing: they were trapped in an alleyway of the business sector of the village. To make matters worse, Sakura and Ino's chakra signatures were approaching nearer with each passing second.

'_Aw, man, this is not going to end well. If I don't think of something fast, all three of us are going to be viciously beaten within an inch of our lives, and in an alley of all places! There's no point in using a Transformation, since Konohamaru and Spitfire can't perform that jutsu. Camouflage tarps are out of the question, since those two will still be able to sense my chakra.' _thought Naruto frantically as he looked around for any possible hiding spots. Currently, the only safe choice that the girls would never search was the dumpsters, but Naruto really didn't want to hide underneath layers of garbage. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a heavy door being flung open. Naruto turned to where the sound originated to see that the left building's backdoor open, revealing none other than . . .

"H-Hinata?"

"N-N-Naruto, hurry and get in here! Ino and Sa-Sakura are heading this way!" she called out, despite her stuttering in the beginning. She had followed Naruto and his friends when they distracted the fan girls long enough for them to escape. When Naruto performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu, she made sure that she kept track of the original blonde and carefully tracked them without the Uchiha girls nor Naruto noticing her. Once she knew exactly where Naruto was, she asked the restaurant owner if she could have access to the building's back door on the pretense that she was on a mission to capture Tora, the cat that belonged to the Fire Daimyo's wife. Luckily, the man believed her, seeing that she was shinobi and a Hyuga.

Naruto was a bit wary into accepting the invitation. After all, it could've easily been a fan girl in disguise. He looked into Hinata's eyes, trying to find any trace of malevolence or ill-intent. But he could not find any there, instead he only saw sincerity and concern. Then he sensed them; Sakura and Ino were just moments away from catching them, meaning that they had taken Konohamaru's "shortcut". Deciding that it was safer to take a chance with Hinata then braving out with the queens of fan girls, Naruto grabbed his two friends, and raced inside the building. Hinata slammed the door shut just in time, as the two girls arrived in the alley seconds after the door was closed.

Naruto, Hinata, Konohamaru, and Spitfire just sat there in dead silence as Sakura and Ino bickered about whose fault it was that they lost Naruto and the "trench coat" man. This lasted quite while, the majority of the time was composed of the names "Forehead Girl" and "Ino-Pig" being thrown back and forth, before the girls gave up on their Naruto hunt. As soon as the two genin felt fan girls' chakras leave the immediate area, they all let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! Man, that was way too close for comfort." said Naruto quietly. He then turned to face Hinata. He was amazed that she had the daring to save him from a fate no male should ever experience. That when he realized something.

"Hey, Hinata, how did you know where to find us?" he asked, which resulted in a small 'eep' from the Hyuga. She was hoping that the he wasn't going to ask that question, and began to nervously tap her index fingers together out of habit .

Any unbiased human being could tell that Hinata had a huge crush on Naruto. But with the limited knowledge about how girls _really _behave when they like a boy, Naruto was completely oblivious to the blushes that were always on Hinata's face whenever he was around or talked to her as well as her stuttering.

Gathering what remained of her nerve, Hinata spoke up. "W-w-well . . . I s-s-s-saw what Sakura and the oth-oth-others were going t-t-to do . . . to you and your friends . . . and I . . . well, I . . . followed you from the moment you u-u-used that Shadow Clone Jutsu to when you got to the dead end." she finished weakly, all the while mentally cursing herself for sounding so stupid. Her blush increased by ten fold, making her look like she had a high fever. Her embarrassment was so unbearable, that she wished that she anywhere than where she was right now. So she was surprised when she heard what Naruto said next.

"Wow, thanks Hinata! Besides Iruka Sensei, no one has ever done anything like that for me." said Naruto, a fox-like smile adorning his face.

The effect was immediate: Hinata's blush had now spread all over her face, while she was trying to comprehend what Naruto had just said to her.

'_I-I-I-I just saved Naruto from those fan girls, an-an-and he even thanked me!' _she thought, frantically._'Now what do I do now!? I've never done anything like this before, it's way too terrifying! But if I don't say anything, Naruto will think that I'm weird!' _

While Hinata was being troubled with her internal conflicts, Naruto was focusing at the girl(specifically her now tomato-red face) in front of him, looking very confused. He never understood why the Hyuga princess always blushed whenever he talked to her. He originally believed that the sudden change in color was due to a fever or something like that. But he knew that wasn't the cause, or otherwise Hinata would be too weak to even get out of bed.

Spitfire, on the other hand, knew exactly why Hinata's blush was so intense and mentally slapped himself in the face at his roommate's obliviousness to what was in front of him.

'_Come on, Naruto. Even __**I**__ can tell that this girl has a major crush on you.' _thought the exasperated Mini-Con.

"Hey, can we, like, go now?" asked Konohamaru, bringing everyone back to Earth. Realizing that they were still in the back storage room of the restaurant, Hinata quickly led Naruto's group out of the restaurant. Once they reached the door, all four them peaked their heads outside, and then looked both left and right. Once they made sure that there was no sign of the fan girls anywhere, Naruto, Hinata, Spitfire, and Konohamaru exited from their hiding place, only to realize that it was late in the afternoon, and that the sun was already setting.

"Wow, I didn't realize that it was this late already." said Naruto to no one in particular.

"Aaawww, and just when I thought that I was finally getting the hang of Transformation." whined Konohamaru. "We did even get to the Kage Killer jutsu."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll still teach the jutsu, just worry about getting past level one." said Naruto, reassuringly. "But I think we'll call it a day for now, and then start again whenever I got some free time, okay?"

"Alright, but you better keep your promise, boss."

Naruto just chuckled. "Don't worry, you have my word. I won't stop forget about your training until you mastered that jutsu."

Konohamaru just smiled, before he ran off towards home. Naruto then turned his attention back to Hinata, who immediately blushed when she saw that he was looking at her. But for some reason, Naruto just seemed to be at lost for words as he continued to gaze upon the young girl. The light from the setting sun just seemed accentuate every curve of her body, even with the bulky jacket that she wore. He noticed that her eyes seemed to glow like two perfect lavender-colored orbs, and her hair shined a breath-taking shade of obsidian, all of which gave her an angelic-like appearance.

'_Wow . . . She's so . . . so . . . gorgeous . . . GAAHH! Where the hell did __**that **__come from!? Argh, snap out of it Naruto. She's one of your few friends, don't do something that will make her think that you're some kind of sick pervert and scare her away.'_he thought before he brought his attention back to reality. But for some reason, he found it hard to find the right words that he wanted to say. "So, uh . . . thanks again for the assist back there, . . . and I guess we'll be heading off too. See you later, Hinata." he said awkwardly.

Hinata had noticed the sudden change in his tone of voice, but was starting to feel like she was going faint any minute now and decided not dwell on it until she got back home. So instead, she gave a small head nod, and turned to make her way to the Hyuga Compound. As Naruto watched her leave, Spitfire decided to take action. He quickly grabbed the collar of Naruto's jacket, and pulled it so that Naruto was facing him.

"_Dolt, what do you think you're doing just standing there, gawking like an idiot? Ask her out!" _whispered Spitfire.

"WHAmmpph!!!" was all that Naruto managed to shout out, before Spitfire quickly covered his mouth so as to not draw unwanted attention.

"_Calm down, calm down! It doesn't have to be a one of those romantic dates that you dream of having with Sakura, it can just be a little 'get-together' between two really close friends. Besides, you want to properly thank Hinata for saving us from those fan girls, don't you? Well, this is your chance. Take her to movie, buy her lunch; anything to show her that you really appreciate what she did for you." _said Spitfire, urgently.

"But what if she says 'no'?" came the quiet response from Naruto, who was looking down at his feet when he spoke. That type of reaction showed a few things that Spitfire had rarely seen during the short time he had come to know the boy: uncertainty and vulnerability. Both of these were no doubtedly caused by thirteen years of undeserved hatred and other acts of cruelty. After mentally cursing the civilian's idiotic behavior once again, Spitfire gave a gentle smile towards his friend as well as place a comforting hand on his shoulder, causing to Naruto to look back up at the robot.

"_That is a possibility, but then again, what if she says 'yes'? You'll never know unless you take a risk." _he said encouragingly. He then started to quickly push Naruto towards Hinata's direction. _"Now hurry up and ask her before she goes home. And if you decide to buy her lunch, make sure that you let __**her**__ decide which restaurant to go to." _

"Okay, I'll do it. Just calm down already." said Naruto as he began to run faster so that the Mini-Con wasn't pushing him any longer. As Spitfire watched as Naruto began to chase after Hinata, he couldn't help but feel pleased with himself.

'_That was a lot easier than I thought.' _Spitfire thought. '_And I didn't even have to threaten his ramen to convince him into doing this. Now, all that's left to worry about is Hinata. Hopefully, she won't turn him down. And once, Naruto finally gets a chance to really know this female, he'll hopefully forget all about that violent, pink-haired monster, and eventually find a caring and loving girlfriend in Hinata.'_

Luckily for Naruto he didn't have to run for very long in order to catch up to the Hyuga princess. That way, he wouldn't startle her or cause her to faint if she saw him chasing after her.

"Hey, Hinata. Hinata!" Naruto shouted a little louder than he intended, if the startled jump from Hinata was any indication. But, it did manage to get her stop for a while. Hinata, on the other hand, was completely terrified; Naruto had just called her out, and she didn't know what he wanted. Was Naruto actually angry with her for intervening? Did that one act of kindness seem like an insult to him and his abilities? Did he really want to go through with Sakura beating him up? Even though that girl was often violent with him, she knew that Naruto still liked her. Slowly but surely, Hinata turned to face Naruto, her blush still adorning her face.

"Y-y-y-yes, Naruto?" she asked quietly. Unintentionally, she had her back to the sun when she was facing Naruto, which made the sun's rays look as if they were radiating from herself instead of the massive ball of fire in the sky. Naruto just stood there, his eyes gazing upon the young beauty that was before him, only this time, she looked more like a goddess than an angel. Remembering his earlier motive for calling Hinata, Naruto spoke up, all the while trying to fight the blush that was trying to appear.

"Uh . . . I was thinking . . . maybe if, when you aren't too busy with your team . . . that I could . . . take you out for lunch or something, you know, as friends. It would be my treat, you know, as a way of saying 'thank you' for helping me out today." he said, awkwardly. As he waited for a reply, he was unaware of what was going through her mind.

'_Naruto just asked me out!!!! Oh, sweet Kami, he asked me out!!! I've dreamt about this moment for years, and now it's actually happening!!! Even though it's still "as friends", it's still a date!' _thought Hinata wildly while trying with all her might not to faint in front of her blonde crush.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't know that Hinata was thinking, but only saw her head tilt forwards, so that he couldn't see her eyes, and her shoulders began to tremble. Naruto didn't know what to make of Hinata's behavior. All he did was ask if he could take her out for lunch, it wasn't as if he was asking her to marry him. But then, Naruto remembered all the times that he asked Sakura out, which caused her to react the same way that Hinata was currently behaving, right before she pounded him into the ground.

"I mean . . . if you don't want to, then I can understand." said Naruto quickly, trying to diffuse the situation before it became brutal. "I know that you would probably prefer to . . ."

"NO!" Hinata exclaimed as her head snapped back up so as to face him, all the while praying that Naruto wasn't going withdraw his offer. But she returned to whisper-like voice a moment later. "I w-w-w-would love t-t-t-to go out with you, as friends."

Naruto just smiled, only this time it was genuine smile, instead of the one he always used on his "mask". "Great! So I'll see you tomorrow at the Academy, and we can set up a date that will work for the both of us."

"W-w-wait, tomorrow, at the Academy?"

"Yeah, I've got surprise for you and our whole class tomorrow. So I'll see you then. Bye, Hinata!" and with that, Naruto ran back to where Spitfire was standing. Hinata just stood where she was standing, as she watched Naruto and Spitfire's retreating figures become smaller and smaller, until she could no longer distinguish who was who. As she set off once again to the Hyuga compound, she could help but smile for the first time in a long time.

Back with the Mini-Con and the jinchuriki, the duo walked in silence, until Spitfire decide to speak up.

"_So, what was Hinata's answer?" asked Spitfire. _

"If you must know, she said yes." replied Naruto, still surprised that a girl like Hinata actually wanted to go out with someone like him.

"_See, that wasn't so painful, now was it?!' _said Spitfire, as he playfully punched Naruto's shoulder. In his mind, he was doing his own little victory dance(**AN: all the while "Caramelldansen" is playing in the background, but Spitfire isn't doing that caramelldansen dance)**. _"Like I said before, you'll never know how things will turn out, unless you take a risk." _

"Yeah, I guess you got me there." The silence between the two friends soon settled in once again, but was soon broken by Spitfire a few minutes later.

"_Naruto, I just want to say that . . . I'm sorry for nearly getting us killed by Uchiha fan girls earlier. I didn't really want punch Sasuke's teeth out; honestly, I didn't! It's just . . . it's just that, after hearing everything that bastard said about you, and with those stupid females supporting him, I just lost control. I now realize that I actually made things worse for you, and I want to apologize for acting without thinking about the consequences." _finished the Mini-Con, with his facing the ground, feeling ashamed and expecting Naruto to reprimand him for his rash behavior.

"Yeah, that was reckless of you, but it was funny as hell seeing Sasuke getting punched through that fence." said Naruto, before breaking out into a fit of laughter, that caused many passersby to look at the pair strangely. The laughter was so contagious, that Spitfire couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"_But seriously, how much trouble will this cause?" _

"Well, considering that Sasuke _did _try to start a fight with a non-ninja visitor, and was punched into unconsciousness by a total stranger, I doubt that he, 'the Uchiha prodigy', would be willing to tattle to the council about this. And as for his missing teeth and broken jaw, you'd be surprised what our medics can do. I heard that they were able to heal man who had broken every bone in their body. Plus, we have Konohamaru as a eye witness, in case the prick's fan club tries to start anything."

Spitfire felt much better after hearing that bit of information, but there was still something else that was bothering him. _"Hey, Naruto?" _

"Yeah?"

"_Before we head home, I was wondering if . . . if you could take me to the place where you found my panel." _

Naruto noticed the sudden unease in his friend's voice, and immediately became concerned. "Uh, sure thing, we've still got time." he said.

**55555**

_Hokage Monument_

The sun had nearly set completely when Naruto and Spitfire had arrived on top of the Fourth Homage's head. As Naruto led the Mini-Con towards the very back of the head, Spitfire could see the pentagonal impression caused by his panel on the mountain's side. Upon seeing the mark, Spitfire walked up to it, until he was inches away from the wall. For what seemed like an eternity, Naruto just watched as Spitfire stood in front of the mark, gently running his hand over the indention, as if he was trying to find something hidden.

'_I can't believe that I was standing out so much, and yet no one noticed me.' _thought Spitfire. _'But, at least I was lucky enough to be found by Naruto, instead of some other ninja that would've more than likely used me as a weapon. I swear, even though he's a human, that boy has the closest understanding of what we Mini-Cons experienced from the Decepticons during the Great War. It's funny, even though I'm on a completely different world, I feel as if I'm still on Decepticon territory. Or at least something similar to it, considering that the majority of this village practically worship Megatron's human counterpart.' _

The Mini-Con's fist clenched when he remembered how arrogant Sasuke was, and how those stupid girls treated him as if he was demigod that could do no wrong. This lead his thoughts to Megatron, the ruthless Decepticon leader, and his blindly loyal followers. He especially remembered the unforgivable slave labors that Megatron had subjected to him and his old squadron when they were captured, as well as the horrendous acts of cruelty that any Mini-Con experienced if they even dared to revolt against their captor. He remembered how he and his teammates were forced to watch as that tyrant decimated two of their comrades when they were caught trying to escape. In the end, they wouldn't have made it out online, if it weren't for the Autobots. Even though they were rescued, he was still haunted from the experience and had a few wounds that had yet to be healed.

The Mini-Con was so enveloped in his own memories, that had almost completely forgotten that Naruto was still standing behind him. That is until he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. Snapping out his trance, Spitfire turned around to be face to face with Naruto, concern shining in his sapphire blue eyes.

"Are you okay, Spitfire?" he asked.

After a long pause, Spitfire just sighed. _"Yeah, I'm fine. Seeing the spot of where my panel was just brought up some painful memories from the past, that's all." _

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that this place would have such an effect on you. Do you want to talk about? Because I'll be more than happy to listen."

"_No, no, I'll be just fine. And thanks for bringing me up here, as well as showing me around the village. I really needed this." _replied Spitfire.

Naruto wasn't fully convinced that Spitfire was telling the truth, but decided not to pry into his friend's personal life. If the Mini-Con wanted to keep certain things from his past a secret, then he would respect his privacy and not try to pry any further.

"Okay, if you say so. But you know that you can always come to me if you want to talk, right?"

"_And I'll tell you everything when I feel that the time is right. Deal?" _asked the Mini-Con, as he held out his hand, which Naruto took and shook it.

"Deal. Now come on, if we hurry, we can get to Ichiraku's for some dinner before it closes."

"_But you have plenty of instant ramen at home. Why do you want to pay to eat ramen at some bar, when you can just make it at home?" _

"Hey, ramen made from scratch is nothing compared to the instant stuff. And besides, I need something to get mind off of meeting up at the Ninja Academy, where all of Sasuke's fan girls, and the prick himself, will be there." was the boy's response as he raced towards the pathway that led back to the ground level of the village. Spitfire just shook his head at Naruto's enthusiasm for ramen, before he sprinted after the boy.

'_You are truly one of a kind, Naruto Uzumaki.' _he thought.

_To Be Continued . . . _

**55555**

**Well this ends the longest chapter that I've ever written for this story Hope you all enjoy this little present. Happy Valentines Day!!!!!! **

**Next time: a close experience with disaster, team placements, another Mini-Con panel?! And to top it all off, an old enemy returns. **


	6. Confrontations

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Sorry that all of you waited so long for this, but it took a while for me to get this chapter just right. Hope that you all enjoy it. Once again, I own nothing! **

_Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking (including Inner Sakura)

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

--Blah-- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

**#** - scene change

**666666 **

**Chapter 6: Confrontations **

_Kolkular*, Kaon* (Cybertron)_

The high-pitched alarms blared throughout the military base in the Decepticon capital city of Kolkular, which meant only one thing: prisoners attempting to escape.

"_Keep going! That distraction won't hold those Decepticon lackeys for long!" _shouted Spitfire, as he led his team down yet another corridor.

'_This whole mission has been a complete nightmare! Oceanglide, our so-called "reliable" source turned out to be working for the Decepticons the whole time. And when we got to the rendezvous point, those blasted 'Cons captured us and forced us to mine energon for them to guzzle down.' _Spitfire thought angrily, as he and his three fellow escapees continued on.

"_Spitfire, are you sure it was wise to split up the team like this? What if we run into the guards? As we are right now, our team wouldn't last a second against just one guard. If we had stayed together, we would have more of a fighting chance." _yelled a pink and white female Mini-Con.

"_And risk all of us being captured again, Combusta!? You've seen what those monsters do to prisoners that try to escape!" _replied Spitfire, as the group made another right turn down a corridor. _"And besides, if Megatron were to capture just our group, at least there would still be a chance that the others could escape and get help." _

"_I know, but…" _

"_Don't worry, Combusta. The Emergency Team and the Super Stunt Team are more than capable of looking after themselves." _reassured Spitfire.

"_Hey, Mr. All-High-and-Mighty, I don't think that you're in any position to be calling the shots around here! Or have you forgotten that it was under __**your **__leadership that we all ended up in this mess in the first place!?" _shouted another female Mini-Con, who had the same color scheme as Combusta, but had blue colored optics instead of burgundy .

Combusta just sighed; she just knew that it was only a matter of time before her teammate's quick temper would surface. _"Falcia…" _

"_No, Combusta! Ever since he took command of this mission, everything has gone down hill! __**He **__made us follow that traitor right into a Decepticon trap! __**He **__made us surrender to those bulks and be used as mere mining drones, when we could have fought for our freedom! And thanks to __**him**__, the other two members of his original Mini-Con team were annihilated just because he was too scared act like a real leader!!!" _

The very moment she finished her rant, Falcia felt a powerful force slam into her chest, causing her fly back from the sudden force and collide into one of the corridor's walls. But before she could recover, something grasped her by the neck and forcefully pinned her back against the wall. Once Falcia's vision returned to normal, she saw that it was none other than Combusta that had her pinned down. But this wasn't the "Combusta" that she was used to seeing. No, the normally calm and patient leader of the Sonic Assault Team was gone, and in her place was an extremely angry Mini-Con that looked ready to rip the spark chamber out of a Wrecker***** with her bare hands.

"_That is enough out of you, Falcia!!!! This is __**NOT **__the time for your cynicism!!! You say it's Spitfire's fault for trusting Oceanglide? Well, have you forgotten that we __**ALL**__ thought that he was on our side until it was too late!? You say that we should have fought instead of surrendering? Well let me ask you this, did you actually believe that twelve Mini-Cons could stand a fighting chance against an entire __**BATTALION **__of armed-to-the-teeth Decepticons!? And don't even think about trying to pin Sunswipe and Sidestreaker's deaths on Spitfire, because you know very well that out of the entire group, those two were the best espionage specialists that were available!!! Right now, all that matters is that we all escape from this prison and get the frag out of Kaon as fast as possible, and I will __**NOT**__ let neither your temper nor your issues with Spitfire jeopardize everything that we've planned!!! __**Do I make myself perfectly clear, soldier!!!???**__" _roared Combusta.

Falcia just stood there, too shell-shocked to respond. Even though Falcia had always respected her leader, she was always used to being able to tell Combusta anything that was on her mind, and most of the time not expect any negative consequences. But this was the first time that Combusta had been more assertive in reminding Falcia of her place. And for the first time in her life, Falcia felt afraid of what this new aggressive Combusta was going to do to her. But, as old habits die hard, her deep resentment for Spitfire would not, could not be fully restrained. Still, Combusta was right; now was not the time to rub Spitfire's many mistakes in his face

"_Crystal clear, commander." _said Falcia dryly, while making sure that her tone was still respectful so as not to test Combusta's already waning tolerance. This, of course, was easily noticed by Combusta, but released her grip nonetheless.

"_Like, omigod!!! Talk about total drama!!! It's as if we're in episode number 12704 of…"_

"_Now's not time for your soap operas, Twirl." _snapped Falcia, now focusing her temper at the remaining member of her original team. But the bubbly Mini-Con's attitude didn't waver.

"_But it's true!_" insisted the now-identified Twirl. _"This is exactly like the climax scene. Spitfire is the main male character; Combusta's the lead femme character that has a secret crush on the main male character; you're the aggressive femme that refuses to admit that she has feelings for main male character's backstabbing friend," _Falcia's optics glowed angrily when the bubbly female Mini-Con pointed to her, but Twirl once again took no notice. _"And look, there's the main villain's gullible gang of henchmen!!!" _she finished, pointing at the group of armed security guards charging towards them.

"_Oh slag, they've found us! Everyone, this way!" _shouted Spitfire as he lead the female Mini-Cons down the corridor, with the guards hot on their tail. Suddenly, there was a "whirring" sound that was soon followed up with laser rifles appearing on various places from both sides of the walls.

"_Damn, they herded us into a trap! Twirl, weapon mode!" _ordered Spitfire, as the group continued to charge towards the armed corridor's end.

"_Aye aye, cap'n!" _replied Twirl happily, as she leaped towards Spitfire while transforming into a circular, four-bladed star. Spitfire caught the star, and then flung it towards the lasers on the left wall as hard as he could.

"_**WWWWHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"**_ exclaimed Twirl, as she spun like a saw blade, slicing through and destroying all of the laser turrets on the left wall, before she swung back around and did the same thing to the lasers on the right wall. As she continued her trajectory, Twirl collided into the front guard, causing him crash into his fellow Decepticons before the entire group landed on the floor in a disoriented heap. Twirl just spun back towards where her teammates were waiting, transforming back to robot mode while in mid air, and struck a pose as she landed.

"_Didya see me, Combusta!? Didya see me!? I call that move the "Twirl Ricochet", it took me like forever to get it down. I'm so gonna win the next dance competition with it!" _

"_Hey, Praxus__*****__ Ann, has your CPU crashed or sumthin'? Because in case you've forgotten, we're still in enemy territory!" _shouted an irate Falcia.

"_For once, I agree with Falcia. Come on, we're wasting time!" _said Spitfire. And with that, the escapees thundered down the now disarmed corridor. After taking countless left and right turns, as well as evading traps, the ragtag team of Mini-Cons saw a possible way out. That is, until they saw the exit's hatch slowly begin to close.

"_SLAG! We'll never make it on foot." _shouted Spitfire. He knew that they could easily reach the hatch with their vehicle modes. But if they went through the hatch at top speed, they would be vulnerable to a frontal assault. Still, anything was better than being captured by the Decepticons, and the punishment that would most likely be waiting for them for trying to escape.

"_Everyone, transform and get through that opening! And be extra vigilant once you reach the outside, there's no telling what surprises the 'Cons have waiting or us." _said Spitfire as he transformed into his jet mode and shot towards the hatch, with the three mini-femmes following suit. As Spitfire predicted, the four jets cleared the distance between them and the closing hatch in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, his other prediction also came true. As soon as they reached the outside, the four Mini-Cons were greeted with the sight of hundreds of missiles heading straight towards them.

"_Scatter!" _cried Spitfire, as he and Combusta veered off to the right, while Falcia and Twirl went to the left. But even this tactic wasn't enough to lose the missiles as the huge mass split off to follow the two groups. The Mini-Cons ascended to higher altitudes, swerved left and right, pulling out every aeronautic trick that they knew in order to escape the approaching explosives. Even though they succeeded in causing a few of the missiles collide with each other, which resulted in their destruction, there were just to many of them.

'_There's probably only one maneuver that can get us out of this mess, but it still hasn't been perfected yet. Then again, we don't have much of a choice here.' _thought Spitfire before he made his decision. _"Combusta, Twirl, Falcia, initiate Evasion Pattern: Delta Omega 9!" _he called on his com link.

"_Roger!" _replied Combusta.

"_You got it!" _said Twirl.

"_What? No way!!!" _replied Falcia._ "It can't be…" _

"_THAT'S AN ORDER!!! NOW DO IT, SOLDIER!!!" _Spitfire roared back through the com link. When he didn't get a reply back, he and Combusta accelerated to their maximum speed in the direction of Twirl and Falcia's position. Falcia and Twirl did the same, only they were heading towards Spitfire and Combusta. The missiles following the two parties never once faltered in their pursuit of the targets. The parties continued their trajectory towards each other in what would be a definite collision in a matter seconds. As the two groups grew nearer and nearer, it seemed like the four jets were about to commit suicide.

But then at the very last second, right before they were going to crash, the four Mini-Cons shot up into the sky. The missiles, however, couldn't handle the swift maneuvers, causing them to collide in huge fiery explosion.

"_Whew! Like, that was a close one, I almost had my new paint job burned off!" _exclaimed Twirl.

Spitfire just chuckled; only Twirl could be worried about her outward appearance in the middle of a battle. He was about to say something to the team, when he caught something speedily approaching them from the corner of his optics. It was a missile that managed to allude the explosion, and it was heading straight for Combusta! Knowing that she could never evade it in time, Spitfire veered to the left and knocked Combusta out of the missile's line of fire, only for said missile to blow up a great portion of Spitfire's right wing. The sudden lose of his wing brought out a pained shout from him, before he started spin out of control, leading him to careen down towards the ground.

"_SPITFIRE!" _cried the three female Mini-Cons as they watched in horror as their leader continued his descent. Spitfire knew exactly was happening, but could do nothing. The sudden lose of his wing made it impossible for him to maneuver at the speeds he was going. Waves of unimaginable pain bombarded his entire frame as he struggled to remain conscious, but even that was proving to be nearly impossible. Despite the overwhelming pain, he could catch glimpses of the Sonic Assault Team still in the sky, and the flaming jagged edge on his right side that used to be his wing. But the one thing that he could see quite clearly was the cold, hard ground that approaching closer, and closer, until finally…

**666666 **

_Leaf Village, Naruto's Apartment, Midnight_

Spitfire bolted upright, awake and gasping. He looked around wildly, only to let a out a sigh of relief once he realized that he was still in the living room of Naruto's apartment. He then got up from the couch and made his way to a window; looking at the stars always seemed to calm him whenever he was stressed out. As he gazed out into the night's sky, he thought back to the nightmare that he had just experienced.

Even though it had been stellar cycles***** after that failed mission, but those horrid memories were still as vivid as they were when he first experienced them. They, as well as his unwavering guilt, were what caused his acrophobia and convinced him to give up flying.

'_Sunswipe…Sidestreaker…I'm so sorry.' _thought Spitfire, as he walked back to the couch and went back to sleep.

**666666 **

_Naruto's Apartment, 6:45 AM _

"_Naruto, you frigging knucklehead, wake the Pit__*** **__up!" _shouted the irritated Mini-Con. But Spitfire's efforts were all for naught, as Naruto continued to slumber. It was amusing for Spitfire the first time this happened, but now it was starting to get annoying real fast.

"_Well, looks like I'll have to throw Naruto out of bed again." _Spitfire said to himself as he made his way to Naruto's mattress. But before he could flip it, he noticed that there was an extra thin strip laying tightly across the side. Curiosity getting the best of him, Spitfire pulled the covers away, to see that Naruto had strapped himself to the mattress with some sort of piece of leather that didn't seem to have a fastener to it.

"_Slag it, Naruto!" _cursed Spitfire. _"Now how am I going to wake him up? Oh wait, wasn't there some alternative wake-up call that Iruka told me about? Now what was I supposed to do? Oh yeah, that's it!" _And with that, Spitfire walked off to the bathroom. He retuned later with a big bowl filled with cold water, walking carefully so as not to spill its contents. With a quick movement, Spitfire tossed the cold water, which landed directly on Naruto's face.

The results were instantaneous, Naruto woke up in a spluttering frenzy, as the freezing water instantly awoke him. After calming down, he turned to where the water had come from, to see Spitfire standing there with a large bowl in his hands.

"BLARGH!!! Spitfire, why did you do that!?" demanded Naruto.

"_Well, maybe if you didn't tie yourself to the bed, then I wouldn't have to use cold water to wake you up." _replied Spitfire.

"Well, I wouldn't have to tie myself to the bed, if _you _didn't always throw me out of it." countered Naruto.

"_Well, maybe if you didn't __**always**__ sleep in late, then I wouldn't have to go through such extreme measures to wake you up." _

"Yeah? Well if…Wait a minute, What time is it!?" asked a now frantic Naruto.

"_Don't worry, you have like a half mega-cycle__*** **__before you have to meet up at the Ninja Academy." _Seeing Naruto's confused look, Spitfire realized what the confusion was about. _"Oh, sorry, a mega-cycle is equivalent to an Earth hour." _explained Spitfire.

"Oh...okay, that's a bit refreshing to know. Thanks, Spitfire." said Naruto, as he took a knife and cut through his bindings, much to the exasperation of Spitfire. Naruto then proceeded to get up and prepare for the day of team assignments. Ten minutes later, Naruto said goodbye to his roommate, and made his way to the Academy. As for Spitfire, he just sat himself on the couch, and began to flick through the TV's channels.

**666666 **

_Ninja Academy, fifteen minutes later _

As Naruto sat in his seat waiting to be placed into his team, he could help but smile. After three years of frustration, he had finally become a ninja. Now all he had to do was work hard, advance through the ranks, prove to the village that he wasn't a demon reincarnated, and he would become Hokage in a matter of years.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? You do know this meeting is for the students that actually passed, right?" said a familiar voice. As Naruto focused his attention to the owner of the voice, he saw that it was Shikamaru. To his question, Naruto just pointed to the headband that was on his head.

"What, are you blind as well as lazy, Shikamaru? If I didn't pass, then how come I'm wearing this?" retorted Naruto.

"Alright then, how _did_ you pass?" was the Nara's next question.

"Well, apparently Mizuki had sabotaged my exam, and Iruka was able to notice before it was too late. So he took the issue up with the Hokage, and the Old Man agreed to let me to take a make-up test, which I passed." said Naruto, hoping that the lazy genius would believe in his half-lie, which the Nara did, much to Naruto's relief. As Shikamaru went to his regular seat, Naruto just laid his head back down on the desk, completely unaware that he was being watched by a happy Hyuga heiress that was sitting a few seats behind him.

'_N-Naruto passed! I'm so glad! Maybe we'll be out on the same team.' _thought an overjoyed Hinata. But her thoughts were soon interrupted as she and the entire class soon heard a very loud disturbance that everyone had become accustomed to. Moments later, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka raced towards the doorway, both of them reaching it at the same time, leading them to shout, push and shove their way through the passageway.

"Ha! I win again, Sakura!" declared Ino.

"In your dreams, Ino, my toe made it across the doorway first, I won and you know it." argued Sakura. As the argument progressed, Naruto just gazed at the pink haired kunoichi. Despite all of the nasty remarks that she had directed towards him, Naruto still had a crush on her. He just couldn't explain it. Suddenly, Sakura turned her gaze towards Naruto's direction, and her expression instantly brightened before she dashed towards where Naruto was sitting, much to Ino's annoyance. Seeing the approaching girl and delightful expression adorning her face, Naruto thought that his crush was finally was finally going to give him a chance.

"Hey there, Sakura" began Naruto, "how are you this fi…"

"MOVE IT!" hollered Sakura as she roughly yanked Naruto out of his seat, causing the poor boy to crash onto the floor. Sakura then turned to the person that just happened to be sitting next to the blonde, resting his chin on his intertwined fingers, Sasuke Uchiha.

"H-h-hello, Sasuke." said Sakura in a soft voice. A blush had suddenly appeared on her face. Sasuke just glanced towards her, without making any vocal response. This action alone was enough to make Sakura's blush increase ten fold.

"I was wondering, could I sit with you today?" she continued. That was when Ino decided to make herself known to the pinkette.

"Not so fast, Forehead! If anyone is going to be sitting next Sasuke, it's going to be me!" said Ino.

"I was here first, Ino-Pig!" growled Sakura.

"No way, you two always sit by Sasuke. Let someone else have chance, like me!" said a girl with brown hair.

"As if, I got here before any of you, I'm sitting next to Sasuke!" shouted a red head. Soon, nearly all of the girls gathered to where Sasuke was, arguing about how would get to sit next to lone, broody Uchiha. Sasuke just ignored them, seeing them as nothing more but annoyances. Naruto, on the other hand, was extremely peeved at the recent turn of events. Even though something like this usually happened at the beginning of class, it always pissed him off at how the Uchiha prick had loads and loads of girls begging for his attention, and yet he always ignored them and acted as if this sort of thing was the norm; like it was all a part of life. And the fact that Sakura was one of the many girls that flocked around Sasuke only seemed to add fuel to the fire that was his anger.

'_Grrr…I don't get it, what do all of these girls see in this jerk? He does nothing but act coldly to them, yet they all fight for him every single frickin' day! What in the world do they see in him!?' _pondered Naruto. Deciding to get a closer look at the problem, Naruto instantly appeared on the desk in front of Sasuke, crouching down so that he could be at eye level with the Uchiha, shooting a glare towards the Rookie of the Year. Seeing this, Sasuke sent a glare of his own back at the blonde annoyance, with yesterday's humiliating defeat still fresh in his mind.

"Get lost!" growled both Naruto and Sasuke as they glared at each other, proverbial lightning shooting between their eyes.

"Naruto, leave Sasuke alone!!!" screamed Sakura, thinking that the whisker-marked blonde was trying to pick a fight with Sasuke again. Her shout also caused Ino and the other fan girls to join in with Sakura, shouting and screaming at Naruto to leave their precious idol alone.

"Sakura…" said Naruto in a disappointed tone before turning back to glare at the Uchiha. _'Man, what do these girls see in this bastard? It's always "Sasuke, will you go out with me!?" or "Sasuke, you're so cool!". Blegh!!! It makes me sick!!!!' _thought Naruto angrily. That's when things started to get hairy.

A student that was seated in the row in front of the glaring duo accidentally nudged Naruto's foot with his elbow, causing said blonde to lose his balance and to fall forward towards Sasuke. And since they were both at eye level, Naruto knew that there would be a likely chance that the upcoming collision could result in them being in somewhat suggestive positions, with the most extreme possibility resulting in them…_kissing_! As Naruto fell closer and closer to Sasuke, he sprung into action, going through a set of hand seals and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

This surprised the people that were watching the entire scene play out, from Sakura and the fan girls to boy that had accidentally knocked Naruto over. But as the smoke began to clear out, they realized that Naruto was no longer there. Instead of the loud blonde boy, there in Naruto's place, currently locking lips with Sasuke was none other than…

"INO, YOU PIG!!!!" screeched Sakura.

To say that Ino Yamanaka was surprised by the turn of events would be an understatement, she was absolutely bewildered. One minute she watching Naruto nearly fall on top of Sasuke, the next moment she felt herself being pulled somewhere and found her lips colliding against Sasuke's. But the shock only lasted a few seconds, quickly turning into unbridled joy, as she threw her arms around the Uchiha's head which allowed her to deepen the kiss. She never expected to be in such a position with Sasuke this early in the game, and she was going take full advantage of this chance. Sasuke, on the other hand, wasn't as enthusiastic as Ino, as his arms began to thrash wildly in attempt to pry the Yamanaka girl off of him.

"INO, YOU SLUT!!! GET THE HELL OFF OF SASUKE!!!" screamed an extremely pissed-off Sakura, as she grabbed hold of her rival's waist and tried in vain to separate her from Sasuke. The other girls soon followed suit as they too grabbed hold of different parts of Ino (shoulders, hair, etc.), calling her names such as "bitch", "skank", or "whore", all the while trying to force her to let go. This only caused Ino to strengthen her hold on Sasuke, all the while trying to thrust her tongue down the lone Uchiha's throat.

As all of this drama was going on, Naruto was sneaking across an aisle that was higher up in the classroom, trying not to be noticed by the angry girls that were currently focused on Ino. He knew that he could've substituted himself with a log, but he figured that one of the prick's fan girls would've been more fun. Luckily, Ino was close enough for him to make the switch, otherwise the only girl that was left in range was Sakura. And he didn't want to unintentionally make Sakura's first kiss be with Sasuke, if he could help it. Besides, he just did a solid favor for Ino, he figured. Now she could brag to everyone that _she _was Sasuke's first (and probably only) kiss. Now if he could only make it to an empty seat without being noticed.

"N-N-Naruto?" came a familiar voice. Looking up to see who had just spoken, Naruto came to face none other than Hinata Hyuga. Naruto's mood instantly brightened upon seeing a friendly face.

"Hi, Hinata." he said in a low voice. He then saw an empty seat right next to the shy Hyuga. "Hey, I was wondering, could I please sit next to you, at least until team placements are over?"

This request caused Hinata to blush madly at the thought: Naruto, her crush, actually sitting next to her.

"O-o-of course you can, Naruto." she said while pressing her index fingers together, her blush never leaving her face. Naruto, while still puzzled about her blush, gladly sat himself in the seat that was next to Hinata.

"Thanks, Hinata. You have no idea how much this means to me." whispered Naruto, unaware of how Hinata's blush had doubled after that last statement. Now all he had to do was wait until Iruka Sensei came in with the new team placements, and possibly have lunch with Hinata, and then everything would be fine.

"Hey, Naruto, nice moves back there!" shouted one Kiba Inuzuka, a smirk plastered on his face.

'_DAMN IT!!! That goddamned son of a bitch!' _thought Naruto before he felt thousands of killer intents originating from his left being focused on him. Slowly, he turned to face the source, which was Sakura and the other Uchiha fan girls looking as if they were about to kill him. Off to the side, Naruto could see a battered, but extremely pleased Ino, sitting in a row further down, with swirls in her eyes and a dopey grin on her face.

"Uh, heh heh, Hi everyone, heh heh. You all know that whole scene back there was an accident, right?" said Naruto nervously.

**666666 **

_Hokage's Office, During all of this madness _

"Well, that's something that you don't see everyday." laughed Kakashi Hatake, as he, the Third Hokage, and the other potential Jonin instructors watched the drama in the classroom play out through the Hokage's crystal orb. He had actually put away his _Make Out Paradise _book to watch as the girls try and pull the Yamanaka girl off of the Uchiha heir.

Kurenai Yuhi, however, was disgusted at how the future kunoichi acted, and was thankful that she wasn't assigned one of them as a student.

"Looks like Naruto has just made Ino's day." added Asuma Sarutobi. "But it looks like you're going to be one student short if those girls get a hold of Naruto, Kakashi." In the orb, the gathered people could see the girls approaching Naruto, looking murderous. But before they could strike, Iruka walked into the room and called everyone to their seats.

It was then the Hiruzen decided to speak up. "All of you are gathered here because out of all of the jonin available, you are all the most capable of being tasked with the most important mission that any shinobi can perform, teaching the next generation of shinobi. For without these young rookies, there can be no future for the Leaf."

**666666**

_Ninja Academy classroom _

If there was anytime that Naruto was grateful Iruka's perfect attendance, it was today. Before, the army of fan girls could strike, Iruka and walked right in and told everyone to sit down. When the majority of the girls didn't obey, he had used his patented Demonic Head Jutsu to threaten them that he would kick them out of the program. That had immediately convinced them to behave.

Iruka then proceeded to give his little prepared speech about how they had all taken their first step into becoming a true ninja, and so on and so forth. Then he stated that he was going to read off the names, and what team that they would be in, and that no one could switch teammates.

As he began to read off from his clipboard, several students began to think about their possible teammates, but each person had different thoughts.

'_Why are they placing us in three-man cells? Sounds like two members too many.' _brooded Sasuke.

'_This is it, they'll have to put me in Sasuke's team! I know it! Oh god, I hope I'm on Sasuke's team.' _thought Sakura.

'_I-I would be happy if Naruto and I were on the same team.' _thought Hinata, as she snuck a glance to the boy that was sitting next to her.

'_I'll take any team, just as long as I'm not placed with the bastard Uchiha. Or with any of the angry fan girls that want to kill me.' _thought Naruto, as he nervously looked around the classroom.

'_SasuIno, SasuIno, SasuIno, SasuIno!!!' _mentally chanted the now fully-recovered Ino, with hearts in her eyes.

"Alright, next team, Squad Seven: Sakura Haruno…

Instantly, Sakura perked up.

"…Naruto Uzumaki…"

"NO!!!" screeched the pinkette as she shot a murderously glare at the blonde. Several other girls were snickering at Haruno's misfortune. Naruto just gulped at the thought that he would have to deal with his furious crush for the rest of his career.

"…and Sasuke Uchiha. Your jonin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake." finished Iruka.

"SON OF A BITCH!" exclaimed Naruto as he banged his head against the desk that was in front of him.

"OH YEAH!!!!" shouted the now happy Sakura, as she sent a victorious smirk and a "victory" sign towards the now furious Ino. _'__**Cha! Take that, Ino Pig!!! You may have stolen Sasuke's first kiss, but I get to work with him all the time**__!' _shouted "Inner Sakura".

'_S-s-so that means that Naruto won't be on my team.' _thought Hinata sadly.

"Squad Eight: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your instructor is Kurenai Yuhi." continued Iruka. "Squad Nine is still in service. Squad Ten shall consist of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi. Your jonin instructor will be Asuma Sarutobi."

This earned a very disappointed groan from Ino. Choji just continued to munch on the chips that he had brought along. Shikamaru just placed head back on the table, muttering about troublesome women.

With the placements done, Iruka continued. "You all have one hour before your instructor comes to pick up your team. I suggest that you use this time wisely and get to know your teammates a bit more."

"Hey, hold on Iruka Sensei," said Naruto "how come you're teaming me up with that jerk Sasuke? Since last I checked, my class ranking wasn't "dead last", that was Shikamaru. And this academy always puts the dead last and the "Rookie of the Year" on the same team. So what's the deal here!?"

"For your information, Naruto, there are several other factors that contribute to forming the genin teams. The Hokage felt that you would reach your potential if you were paired off with Sasuke and Sakura." explained Iruka.

"WHAT!?"

"Look, don't complain to me, Naruto. You are a shinobi now, so start acting like one. Besides, the Hokage has the final say about team placements."

Naruto just glowered at his predicament, this was not how he wanted to start his ninja career. Sasuke saw this as a chance to reaffirm his superiority over the orange-wearing ninja wannabe.

"Just try not to hold this team back, loser." said Sasuke haughtily, expecting the blonde to explode at that jibe. Naruto, on the other hand, just looked at him with a bored expression.

"Huh? I'm sorry, did you say something, Sasuke? Please speak more clearly next time, you sound like you're trying to talk with some teeth missing and a broken jaw." said Naruto calmly. This caused Kiba to erupt into bouts of uncontrollable laughter, remembering the epic beating that the prideful Uchiha suffered yesterday. Sasuke just seethed furiously as he recalled that embarrassing moment. He didn't know which was worse: the humiliation at how easily he was defeated by some nobody, or the pain that he had to endure when he had his jaw healed and his teeth regrown by the medics. When they had asked what had happened, he had lied saying that he went overboard in his training; he didn't dare tell them what had really happened in fear of what would happen to his reputation.

"Hey, don't say such things to Sasuke!" shouted Sakura, quickly coming to the Uchiha's defense.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Iruka, using his Demonic Head Jutsu. "Be sure to report back here an hour from now. Dismissed!" And with that, Iruka left the classroom, while the new genin began to gather to their respective squads to either talk amongst themselves or leave the classroom to have lunch together. Speaking of lunch, that reminded Naruto of the offer that he made to Hinata yesterday.

"So, uh, Hinata," said Naruto, "I was wondering if you would like to grab lunch with me before we have to meet our senseis?"

Hinata's blush reappeared, and she began to tap her index fingers nervously. But before she could answer, someone else had beat her to it.

"Sorry, Romeo, but you're gonna have to get a rain check on your little date with our teammate." said the teasing voice of Kiba, as he and Shino suddenly appeared behind the two. Their sudden appearance gained a small "eep" from Hinata, but Naruto wasn't too happy with the sudden interruption.

"Oh what, are you two Hinata's guardians now? And if you two were, what gives you all the right to tell her what she can or can't do?" asked Naruto irritably.

"If you had been paying attention, Uzumaki, you would have heard Iruka Sensei telling us to use this time to get to a better understanding of our teammates. And I suggest that you do the same, so that there will be fewer problems that your instructor will have to spend time amending them." said Shino.

Naruto looked as if he was going to argue, but was stopped when he felt Hinata's hand being placed over one of his.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Naruto, I-I would've love to have lunch with you, but Shino is right. I-I-It would be best if I spent time with me new team. I-I-Is there any chance that we could reschedule?" asked Hinata, with disappointment clear in her voice. After hearing that, Naruto just couldn't find it in himself to remain upset.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Your teammate is right; I should try and even some things out with my team, no matter how impossible that might be. How about this upcoming Sunday, two days from now, would that be a good day for you?" said Naruto.

"Th-th-that would be great, Naruto. C-c-could we meet up at the front of the Ninja Academy?" asked Hinata.

"That would be fine." replied Naruto, with a small sincere smile on his face.

Having had enough of being ignored, Kiba decided to make himself heard. "Well now, if you two are done making plans for your date, can we go now Hinata? I'm starving!" exclaimed Kiba, with Akamaru giving a bark in agreement.

Realizing that she still had her hand on top of Naruto's, Hinata quickly pulled her hand away, blushing madly before she followed her teammates out the doorway, but not before turning back and saying "Good luck, Naruto".

Now alone, Naruto realized that both Sasuke and Sakura were no longer in the classroom. He also realized that a few of the Uchiha fan girls who weren't with their teammates were still glaring at him. He knew that if he were to stay in the room, the girls would take this chance to get in a few good hits for what happened earlier. So with a sigh, Naruto begrudgingly set off to find his teammates.

**666666**

_Outside, Near the Academy _

Luckily for the blonde, he saw Sakura walking down a path, trying to find Sasuke. But then he remembered that she was a part of the angry mob of girls that wanted to pound him for making Ino kiss Sasuke. He was also aware that there were no witnesses about, meaning that Sakura could easily beat him within an inch of his life. But maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for his crush. Taking the gamble of a lifetime, Naruto approached Sakura.

"Hey there, Sakura." started Naruto. "I was wondering if you wanted have lunch with me, you know, so that we could get to know a little bit more about each other."

Sakura just turned to glare at the blonde. "Why the hell would I want to get to know more about you?" said Sakura, heatedly.

"Oh, come on, Sakura. Are you still mad about what happened back at the classroom? You know that it was accident, right?" said Naruto nervously.

"There was _nothing _accidental about what you did, Naruto! You purposely gave Sasuke's first kiss, which was supposed to have been mine, to that Ino-Pig!!! How much did she pay you to do it, huh!?" yelled Sakura.

"What are you talking about? Ino didn't pay me to do anything, it was all accidental, I swear! I thought that it would better if Sasuke were accidentally kiss a girl instead of me, and Ino was the closest girl that was available, honest." explained Naruto.

"Naruto…you are the most annoying person that I could ever be around." said Sakura, before heading off to find Sasuke, leaving a dejected-feeling Naruto behind. It just seemed that no matter what he did, Sakura would never give him a chance. With a deep sigh, Naruto began his trek to that new sandwich shop that had just opened, but not before someone else decided to express their opinion of the whole kiss debacle.

"You are the best!" squealed Ino, as she glomped onto Naruto from behind. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!"

"What the hell are you thanking me for?" asked a bewildered Naruto as Ino released her grasp of him.

"For giving me the chance of a lifetime! It's so nice to know that there's someone else besides me that knows that Sasuke and I were meant to be together!!!" said Ino with a dreamy smile.

"Look, what happened back there was accidental, not intentional. In fact, because of my actions, both of my teammates want to kill me." said Naruto in a deadpan tone.

"Oh, I'm sure that Sakura will get over it; she just needs time to let the fact that Sasuke loves _**me**_ sink in. Of course, I'm sure that she'll come to accept the truth sooner if more of those moments, like the one in the classroom, were to occur more often. And I can pay you handsomely if you were to help…me?" she said, only to find out that Naruto had disappeared during her plot.

**666666 **

_With Naruto _

'_Man, this sucks!' _thought Naruto as he took another bite out of his sandwich. He was currently eating his lunch on top of a building's roof. _'The one time that I get paired with Sakura, it just __**had **__to be with that bastard Sasuke! And with him always around, I'll never find out what Sakura truly feels about me. She'll never answer truthfully, even if I ask her sincerely. Unless…unless she doesn't know that the person she's talking to is me! That's it, all I have to do is disguise myself as someone else, and ask her how she really feels about me! And I now the perfect subject to mimic.' _

**666666**

_With Sasuke and Team Ten _

"…and then he had the nerve to just leave when I was telling him about my generous offer!" roared Ino, as she was retelling her encounter with Naruto to her teammates. Choji, having decided that it would be wise not to say anything that might upset the Yamanaka girl, just munched on his rice balls and pretended to agree with whatever the loud girl said.

Shikamaru was just trying not to give into the urge to bash his head against the railing of the porch where they were meeting. It was bad enough that Ino had forced them to meet in the one spot that was "coincidentally" right next to the building where Sasuke just happened to having his lunch. Now the troublesome woman was ranting about how Naruto refused to help move her "relationship" with Sasuke along.

'_This is such a drag. Of all the girls that he could have chosen to substitute himself, he chose the second loudest and most high-sprung kunoichi of our graduating class.' _thought Shikamaru.

Suddenly, he caught the sight of Naruto sneaking along the rooftop, slowly approaching to where Sasuke was positioned.

"Now what is he planning?" the Nara wondered aloud. His statement unintentionally gained the attention of his other teammates who wanted know what he was looking at.

'_So he HAS considered my offer after all.' _thought Ino. That thought was instantly destroyed when she saw Naruto jump through the open window and tackle Sasuke. Whatever happened next was unknown to the team, as the two had disappeared from their line of sight.

"WHAT IS HE DOING!?" screamed Ino.

"Hey, hey! Not in my ears, you troublesome woman! If you want to make yourself deaf, then do it some where else." complained Shikamaru, which earned him a bop on the head, courtesy of Ino.

A few seconds later, Sasuke stepped out of the window, as if nothing had happened.

"Huh, that was quick." said Choji.

"Well what did you expect, Choji? No one can beat Sasuke." added Ino.

"Sasuke" just smirked at hearing this, those three haven't noticed a thing. The switch went off perfectly. The "original" was still tied up, gagged, and placed out of sight. Now all he had to have a honest chat with Sakura about a pressing matter.

**666666 **

_Undisclosed Forested Area_

Somewhere, in the middle of a forest, was a very old tree. It was one of the largest trees in the entire forest, its height being about fifty feet tall. It had existed for hundreds of years, and was present for the creation of the Leaf Village. But there was something off about that specific tree when compared to the other trees that were around the area.

About half way up the tree, there was a huge knothole that left a big depression in the tree. And in the center of that big depression was a Mini-Con panel, with only one of its five edges visible to the outside environment. It had appeared when the tree was still young. As the tree's growth continued to progress throughout the passage of time, the panel became more and more obscured by the tree. Despite the panel's presence, life in the wilderness continued on like nothing had happened. That is, until the panel that had remained dormant for hundreds of years began to glow bright green for a brief instant before going out again.

**666666 **

_Back with Spitfire _

Spitfire was just in the middle of a commercial-riddled movie that was edited for television. Even though the movie was good, the constant interruptions just irked the small jet bot to no end.

'_What's the point of playing a movie on TV if they're just going to interrupt it_ _with these stupid ads?' _he thought. Suddenly, Spitfire felt a strange, large energy signature. It wasn't Naruto's chakra signature, he would've immediately sensed it the moment he started to make his journey home. No, this was an energy signature that was somewhat similar to a ninja's chakra signature, yet it was one that he hadn't felt in millions of years. He tried to deny it, but there was no other viable explanation, the energy signature just had to be from…

"…_.an awakening Mini-Con panel…" _said Spitfire, before he rushed to the closet and grabbed his coat and hat, before he raced out of the apartment via an open window. He had to find Naruto before it was too late.

**666666 **

_Back with Naruto _

'_Well, I guess my plan could be considered somewhat successful. Even though I realized that Sakura honestly can't stand me, and I had to pose as Sasuke just to find that out. And just when she was about to kiss Sasuke, I mean me, I get the runs and have to run to the nearest toilet.' _thought Naruto angrily as he slowly trekked his way back to the academy. _'And then before I could meet back with back with Sakura for the kiss, I run into Sasuke. No doubt that he told Sakura the truth; I thought that I tied those ropes tight enough!' _

As he walked down the path to the Academy, a certain pinkette was thinking about her last confrontation with Sasuke. At first, she was very happy that he had came back, thinking that they could pick up where they had left off. That way, she could have the satisfaction of finally winning Sasuke's heart. So imagine her disappointment when he demanded to know where Naruto was. Desperate to keep her crush's attention on herself, Sakura tried her usual "bash Naruto" plan: commenting on howbadly he had been brought up because he didn't have any parents, how it had made him selfish, and how lucky he was that he didn't have to put up with his parents' nagging.

That was apparently the wrong thing for her to say, as Sasuke verbally attacked her, saying that being scolded by your parents was nothing compared to living your entire life alone. When Sakura asked what he meant by that, Sasuke just said that she made him sick. Sakura was both shocked and devastated that her crush would ever say something that harsh to her. She had always made sure that she was nice and friendly to Sasuke, so why would he say that she made him sick?

'_I wonder if Naruto feels the same way as Sasuke does? Then again, I guess he has every right to. Maybe…maybe I could start being nicer to him.' _thought Sakura. At that moment, she saw Naruto walking towards her. She was about to say something nasty to him, but then remembered her new resolution. So with a lot of effort and self-restraint, she managed to get a somewhat friendly smile.

"Hey, Naruto," she called, "how about we walk back to the Academy together?"

This surprised Naruto. The last time he had asked Sakura to spend time was him, she had spurned him away instantly, and now she _wanted _to hang out with him? This was all just too good to be true. Unless, "Sakura" was actually Sasuke, waiting to get the drop on him. But before he could shout back an answer, he caught something in the corner of his eye, which turned out to be a disguised Spitfire! He was hiding behind a tree that was a few feet from where Naruto was standing on the paved path, and gesturing wildly for him to come over to where he was.

This confused Naruto to no ends, as he and Spitfire had an agreement that the Cybertronian would stay hidden in his apartment just as long as he got to come out every once in a while. So for the little robot to be outside on his own must mean that there was an emergency. Ignoring "Sakura" for the moment Naruto ran towards the tree, much to indignation of Sakura.

"Spitfire? What are you doing here? You know that you have to keep a low profile." whispered Naruto.

"_Naruto, I need your help. I think that there's another Mini-Con hidden in this village!" _whispered back the Mini-Con.

"What!? Are you sure?"

"_Yes, now come on!" _said Spitfire urgently as he grabbed Naruto's hand and began to drag him through the forest.

"H-hey, Hey! Where are you taking me!?" said Naruto.

"_To the panel's location. We have to get there before anyone else does!" _replied Spitfire, as he continued towards the location of the panel.

"Do you even know where it is?"

"_Yes, just trust me on this."_

"But what about my team? We're supposed to be meeting our sensei in five minutes, and I want to make good first impression!" said Naruto as he managed to free himself from the Mini-Con's grip, causing the two to stop.

"_I know, and I'm sorry. But you know that I would never ask of something this big unless it was important. Please, Naruto, I really need your help." _begged Spitfire.

Naruto became silent. He wanted to just tell the Mini-Con to go home so that he could join his teammates in waiting for their sensei. But then he remembered that he was already on bad terms with them, and he had a feeling that things could only get worse as the day continued. Plus, he _did _owe Spitfire one for breaking Sasuke's jaw when the prick insulted him. And he had been more like a friend than his two new comrades.

With a deep sigh, Naruto turned back to his friend. "All right then, lead the way."

**666666 **

_Decepticon Moon Base, Transwarp Gate Center _

It happened again. Just like before, the computer picked up the energy signature of an activating Mini-Con panel. And just like the last time, it was extremely hard to get lock onto it.

'_Come on, come on. Lock on already.' _thought a desperate Demolishor. He had spent the past two days modifying the base's main computer: updating the sensory programs, upgrading the software, anything that could make the computer run more efficiently. The consequences of his failure still haunted his dreams.

'_Please don't lose this Mini-Con.'_ begged the Decepticon. _'Otherwise Megatron will have me slagged!' _After what seemed hours, the computer gave a quick sharp "Beep-Beep!" to signify that the Mini-Con's location had been locked on.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" said Demolishor to the computer. "Megatron, sir, I've got it! I've got the location of the new Mini-Con, sir!"

"Silence, you simpleton!" roared the Decepticon leader, as he made his way towards his subordinate. "You only need to report your findings _once_, you oaf. And for your sake, you had _better_ have a firm lock on those coordinates."

As he glanced at the screen, he saw that Demolishor was indeed correct; the coordinates to the Mini-Con were displayed on the screen, visible to any passerby.

"Ah, so you _can _follow the simplest of orders. At least I know that you're not _completely _incompetent. Now, bring the location of the latest Mini-Con up on the monitor; I want to see exactly where this panel is."

Demolishor wasted no time in complying with his commander. The tank bot typed in a few commands on the computer's keyboard before the image of village appeared on the screen. But this village was like no other human village that Megatron had ever seen when he had the computer run a recon scan on the human civilizations that were present on Earth. The village's over all design was similar to the ones that were in a country called Japan, but it lacked the advanced transport systems and technology. And there were trees everywhere. If it were to be described in human terms, Megatron would have deduced it to be of a "steam punk" design.

"Demolishor, are you _sure _that this is the correct location?" asked Megatron dangerously.

"Y-yes, sir, Megatron," stammered Demolishor. "The upgrades that I've installed on the computer have doubled the main sensor's scanning power. Normally, the computer should be able to locate any Mini-Con on this planet. Yet for some reason, this location has managed to elude our sensors. In fact, sir, I believe that this is the same location of that disappearing Mini-Con from two solar cycles***** ago."

"Hm, you don't say. Demolishor, locate the exact position of the new Mini-Con."

Demolishor complied yet again, and the image of the "steam punk" village changed to that of a very large tree in the middle of a forest. The screen then zoomed in to the large knothole in the middle of the tree, which showed the glowing edge of a Mini-Con panel.

"Ah, _**yessss**__, _there it is. Demolishor, open a warp gate to that exact position, I'm going to retrieve that Mini-Con myself." ordered Megatron, as he made his way to the warp pedestal.

"But Megatron, sir, won't you need back up? What if the Autobots arrive?"

"You idiot, must I explain everything to you!? If it has taken us this much trouble just to locate this Mini-Con, then the Autobots are experiencing the same problems, if not more severe ones with _their _tracking equipment. And as for me, I know that I'm far more than capable of retrieving a Mini-Con from a _"steam-punk" _village. Now open the warp gate!!!!!!!"

"Y-yes sir, Megatron!" said Demolishor, as he got right on it.

**666666 **

_Back with Naruto and Spitfire _

"_Are you there yet, Naruto?" _called Spitfire from below, having taken off his coat and hat after they had reached the location of the Mini-Con.

"Don't rush me here! I'm almost there." said Naruto, as he slowly inched up the tree, towards the huge knothole. _'Of course, this would go a lot faster if there were some branches around this area. I mean of all the places for a Mini-Con to be hidden, it just __**had **__to be in the middle of one of the tallest frickin' trees in the forest! A place that Spitfire is too terrified to go near.' _he thought. Slowly, but surely, he managed to get to the center of the knothole, where the Mini-Con is lodged in deep.

"Okay, Spitfire, I found it! It's lodged in deep into the tree." called Naruto as he tried to pull it out.

"Man, it's really in there." he commented. He was currently standing on two kunai knives that were embedded into the tree's bark as platforms, and using both hands to try and free the panel. All it took was a slip of a foot for him to lose his balance and plummet towards the ground. Suddenly, he felt the storage panel jerk forward, which nearly caused him to fall. Luckily, the panel still remained wedged into the tree, effectively halting Naruto's descent.

After he had regained his balance, Naruto tried to think of another way to dislodge the panel. He didn't have any extra kunai with him, so he couldn't pry the thing out of the tree. Shadow clones were out of the question, since he didn't know how to have them stand on a tree without the assistance of branches or platforms.

'_What if I were to give this thing one quick yank?' _thought Naruto. Seeing that there was no other alternative, the blonde genin decided to take a shot at it. So with a might yank, Naruto pulled as hard as he could. Slowly, the Mini-Con started to move out of the tree inch by inch; it seemed like it would come out in no time. But suddenly, the panel slipped out, as if it were greased with oil. Not expecting this sudden movement from the storage panel, Naruto had no time to regain his balance and actually fell backwards off of the kunai platforms!

Thinking quickly, Naruto managed to turn his body so that he was able to garb hold onto one of the kunai that were embedded into the tree, effectively stopping his fall. Even though it had hurt having his arm suddenly stop his entire body from falling, it was still better than falling to his death. And, fortunately, he was able to retain his hold on the Mini-Con.

"_Naruto!!! Are you alright!?" _shouted a panicking Spitfire.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." called Naruto. As he placed the metallic pentagon inside his jacket, he used his other hand to grab hold of the remaining kunai, and then began to use them to slowly make his way down the tree. Once his feet were on terra firma again, Naruto took out the panel and placed it on the ground. Spitfire then walked over to the panel, and kneeled down to get a better look at it. Naruto soon mimicked his friend.

"Is this the Mini-Con that you sensed, Spitfire?" asked Naruto.

"_Yes, this is definitely the one." _replied Spitfire. _"I had no idea that there was another one in this village." _

"So, then what's the problem, why isn't the Mini-Con waking up?"

"_Well, Mini-Cons usually awaken whenever they feel they're ready, or when they decide that the time is right. Of course, there have been some instances in which an electrical shock was used to awaken them, like some sort of extreme alarm clock. But that's not what got me worried."_

"Then what's the problem?" asked Naruto, who was staring to get concerned. Both of them where so enraptured by the Mini-Con, that they were completely unaware of the warp gate that had opened from behind them, or the figure that "slid" into existence, one bar at a time.

"_If the two of us managed to appear here, then there's a possibility that several more of my kind are scattered around this world, and the technology needed to track them doesn't exist in this plane." _

"I see…" said Naruto, not really sure what to think of this new predicament. "Well, maybe the Old Man can think up of something. But for now, what do we do with this panel now that we've got it free."

"YOU'LL GIVE IT TO ME!" boomed an unfamiliar voice that sounded like it was coming from _behind _them!

Turning behind him, Naruto was met with a sight he thought only existed in his dreams. There, standing behind them with its arms crossed in front of its chest was what appeared to be a giant robot. Except it didn't look like any robot he had ever saw. The thing had green feet with gray claw-like toes at the ends of them, purple upper thighs, upper arms, shoulders, and claw-like hands. It had a huge gray torso, forearms, and head, which had a pair glowing orange eyes like Spitfire. Except these eyes had a sadistic and malevolent air to them. And if that wasn't enough, the robot also had a big green shield with a long silver barrel sticking out on the right side on its back, two big green-framed things on its shoulders that looked suspiciously like treadmills, and what looked like a claw on top of its head. Overall, the figure looked very powerful and _**very **_intimidating.

"What the hell…" said Naruto, as he gawked at the giant that had gotten the jump on both Spitfire and himself. But then he noticed the elongated purple insignia that was on the center of the of its chest and its shoulders. Then, he felt someone grasp onto him from behind, shaking uncontrollably. Turning to see who it was, he saw that it was none other than Spitfire, and he looked absolutely terrified if his trembling was anything to go by.

"Spitfire, what is it? What's wrong?" asked Naruto in a low tone, all the while not taking his eye off of the newcomer.

"_No...no…NO!… It can't be…It can't be him…not here…not now…" _stuttered Spitfire.

"Spitfire, what are you talking about? Who is this guy?" asked Naruto who was now getting worried.

"_M-m-m-m-megatron" _muttered Spitfire.

"Who?"

"_M-M-MEGATRON!!!!" _

_To Be Continued… _

**666666 **

**So there you have it, another update. It looks like the Decepticons are the ones who make contact with the shinobi first, but just how well will they react to one another? What will our heroes do? Who exactly are Sunswipe and Sidestreaker? And where are the Autobots? Find out next time! **

**Sorry it took so long, but college exams took up a lot of my time.**

**Cybertronian Terms: **

*** Kaon is a Decepticon-controlled city-state that is located on the southern hemisphere of the planet Cybertron. Kolkular is a fortress city that serves as Kaon's capital. **

* **A Wrecker is a member of an Autobot combat unit, called the Wreckers. The Wreckers are considered to be toughest, die-hard fighters, the live for the thrill of battle. The members are considered to be "the best of the best", and are usually called into a fight when the odds for victory are slim to none. **

* **Praxus is a city-state of Cybertron that was considered to be a metropolis. It hosted events that promoted Autobot science, art philosophy, culture, and technology. One of its well-known locations was the Helix Gardens, where crystals were arranged in a beautiful manner that made it a place of peace and tranquility. Throughout the Great War, Praxus was completely obliterated. **

* **A stellar cycle is a Cybertronian unit of time that is similar to that of one Earth year. **

* **The Pit is like Cybertron's version of Hell.**

* **A mega-cycle is a Cybertronian unit of time that is the same as one Earth hour. **

* **A solar cycle is another Cybertronian unit of time that is equal to one Earth day.**

**Sorry if you had any trouble understanding Megatron's "warp" travel, I tried to base it off of the scene from the **_**Armada **_**cartoon.**

**Merry Christmas everyone! And have a Happy New Year!**


	7. Pursuit

_**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **_

_**Once again, I own nothing! **_

_'Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking (including Inner Sakura)

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

-Blah- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

**### **- scene change

**7777777 **

**Chapter 7: Pursuit **

_Ninja Academy _

'_Why does the Hokage keep doing this to me?'_ thought Kakashi with a sigh, as he made his way to the classroom to pick his new charges. He was already nearly three hours late, but that didn't really upset him that much. _'I would have thought that after all of the teams I've failed, that the old man would have gotten the hint that I'm not interested in becoming a jonin sensei. Ah well, I'd might as well get this over with.' _

As he opened the door to the classroom, and was greeted with the site of a brooding young boy with his hands intertwined in front of his face. Right next him was a girl with bubble-gum pink hair, animatedly talking to the boy in attempt to start a conversation with him. But it appeared that the boy wanted to be left alone as he barely answered any of the girl's questions. When Kakashi, looked around the classroom for his third charge, he saw that he was no where to be. The jonin cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the two graduates.

"Is this all there is for Squad Seven? 'Cause, it looks like we are missing someone. Do any of you happen to know where our third member is?" Kakashi asked lazily.

"That idiot! I saw him heading back to academy, and offered to walk back with him. The jerk had the nerve to run off somewhere without so much as saying a word to me!" said Sakura angrily. Sasuke just gave his trademark 'hn', leaving his opinion on the matter open for interpretation. Kakashi just arched an eyebrow at this new bit of information; he had seen Naruto at the team placement meeting via the Hokage's crystal ball, so the whiskered boy should have been here.

'_I wonder where that little prankster is.'_ though Kakashi.

**7777777 **

_With Naruto and Spitfire_

"Wha…what did you say?" said Naruto, his gaze was still on the giant that had somehow materialized right behind him without so much as a sound. Spitfire was still behind him, trembling and trying his best to completely conceal himself.

"You heard me the first time, human. That Mini-Con panel on the ground is mine, and I expect you to return it to me immediately." stated Megatron in a no-nonsense tone of voice. He was already annoyed that a local had already found the panel before he did, but was doing his best not to show his anger to this "lower life form". But suddenly, something behind the human caught the great Decepticon's eye. Peering more closely, he was shocked to see that there was a reactivated Mini-Con hiding right behind the human that standing right in front of the panel.

'_What? A Mini-Con that is already awakened! But how is that possible? Could it be, that this was the Mini-Con that Demolishor lost some time ago? If it is, then this changes everything.'_ thought Megatron, as he tried to think of a way to return with both Mini-Cons in his possession. Quickly, he changed tactics, hoping to avoid going through a scenario similar to his last encounter with humans.

"Well now, aren't you a clever little boy? Not only did you find that panel, but you've already found an activated one! You really are an intelligent human being. The other three humans I've encountered only managed to find one for each of them, but you've managed to find those two all by yourself. Now, why don't you be a good little human, and hand them both over to me?" said Megatron in a falsely-sweet tone, hoping that the lone human would buy into his act.

Unfortunately for the Decepticon commander, it wasn't going to be that easy for him. Naruto instantly knew that the giant before him was planning something. Despite common rumors, he was very good at reading people, and he instantly knew that this "Megatron" was bad news. Add in the fact that Spitfire was absolutely terrified of him, and how quickly he changed moods, had proved that his assumption was possibly right. But on the other hand, he didn't really know much about Spitfire's life, meaning that his roommate could easily be a wanted criminal. If that were the case, then it would be in his best interests to simply hand Spitfire over to the menacing mech. Nonetheless, Naruto decided to play along with Megatron's game, and possibly wheedle some more information out of him.

"Why do you want these Mini-Cons anyway? I mean, they are so much smaller than you. What use could you possibly have for them? And who are you anyways?" said Naruto, trying his best to remain calm.

Megatron had to bite back the snarl that threatened to come out. It was clear to him that his ploy wasn't going to be as effective as he originally planned. Hopefully, it was nothing that a few lies couldn't handle. "Well, for starters, I am known as Megatron. And as for the little robot behind you, …well, you see,… he's my child. Yes, yes, you see, we had an argument a long time ago and he ended up running away from home, with his sleeping brother. I've been searching for them both for years, and for a while I had thought that I'd never see them again. But as luck would have it, I stumbled upon your location by accident. You have no idea how relieved I am to know that the both of them are safe." Megatron lied through his vocal processor.

That little story didn't fool Naruto for a second; he instantly knew that something was wrong. "Is that so? Then, could you perhaps tell me what your child's name is?" said Naruto.

"Wh…what did you just say?" said Megatron, momentarily shocked by the suddenly question.

"Well, if the little guy behind me is indeed your child, then could you please tell me what his name is? Or what are few of his likes and dislikes? Or perhaps what's his greatest fear?"

"Uh…uh, well…"

"Cut the crap already! I may not be the best student in the academy, but I'm not completely stupid! I know for a fact that you're anything _**but **_Spitfire's father! I don't know who you are, or why you want these Mini-Cons so badly, but there is _**no **_way that I'm just gonna hand them over to you!" roared Naruto, as he snatched up Mini-Con from the ground and slowly inched away from the behemoth.

Megatron just scowled; he did not like it when things didn't go according to his plans. "Hunh, fine then, we'll go with Plan B then…" he muttered, as he grabbed his tank turret fusion cannon and turned it so that the barrel was aimed at Naruto. "Give me the Mini-Cons right now, or suffer my wrath!" he ordered, the sickening-sweet charm replaced with malevolence.

Spitfire's trembling only intensified while Naruto tried his best not to appear afraid. "Ooohhh, that's one big water pipe you've got there!" snarked Naruto. What are ya gonna do, water us or-"

ZAPOW!

BLAM!

A loud blast sounded from the cannon, and a large bright purple "shell" collided with the ground a few yards to the left of the group, resulting in a large explosion that cut off the blonde immediately. Naruto just stared dumbstruck at where the blast landed, completely at loss for words. As the smoke cleared, he was met with the sight of a large crater that was fifteen feet in diameter and ten feet deep.

"That was your first and only warning, human." barked Megatron, bringing Naruto and Spitfire's attention back to him and the smoking barrel of his cannon. "I trust that it won't be necessary for me to repeat myself?" he said with a cruel smirk plastered on his cold metallic face, his orange eyes glowing ferociously.

**7777777 **

_Hokage Tower _

"What the hell!" said Hiruzen as he heard the explosion and felt the tremor of the aftershock. He leapt out of his seat and raced to a window that faced the northwest section of the village, a few miles behind the Inuzuka clan compound. To his shock and horror, he saw smoke rising from a location that was extremely close to the defensive walls that surrounded the village, maybe even on the other side. Without wasting a moment, the Hokage called upon the ANBU that were stationed outside his office.

"Recall all of the jonin senseis of the graduating genin teams, and have them join up with ANBU Squadron 1. Once they've reported in, mobilize the squadron, and have them investigate the explosion's point of origin immediately! I want to know where the hell that explosion was, and what caused it!" he ordered.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" said the ANBU before they vanished in a shushin. Once they were gone, Hiruzen immediately returned to his desk and tried to use his crystal ball to pinpoint the location where the explosion occurred. In all of the commotion, he failed to notice a small, inky-like mouse scurry through a crack in the hard wood floor.

**7777777 **

_Back with Naruto _

"Well, human, are you deaf _and _stupid? If you want to live, give me the Mini-Cons, before I _really _get angry!" shouted Megatron, as he primed his cannon for another shot.

Knowing that he could very well be killed in an instant, Naruto realized that he had to act fast. But just _what _could a greenhorn genin like him do against something like Megatron?

Naruto, not willing to go down without a fight, finally broke the silence as he made a cross-like hand sign. "Hm, let me think about that…. How's…this for your answer? **Ninja Art: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu! Transform!**" Instantly the entire ground around Megatron was enveloped in a large cloud of smoke. As the cloud dispersed, Megatron was in for quite a shock.

"WHAT THE?" boomed Megatron, as he saw that there were hundreds of copies of the human holding the panel, and the already activated Mini-Con surrounding him. He quickly activated his internal scanners trying to find the originals; after all, he had dealt with complicated illusion holograms before. But to his shock, his scanners couldn't break through the illusion. They were saying that all of the duplicates were real!

'_How is this possible!_' thought Megatron.'_My scanners can't tell which of these blasted things are illusions, and which are the real ones! Is this worthless sack of meat actually able to duplicate itself? And on top of that, the organic gave off energy readings similar to that of a Mini-Con! And I know that humans can't normally accomplish such feats. Could this be a result of prolonged contact with the Mini-Con that human found?_'

"If you think that I'm just gonna hand you these Mini-Cons, then you've got another thing coming to you!" shouted all of the Naruto's. "You'll have to catch all of us, first!" With that, the Naruto's and Spitfire's scattered. Megatron snarled as he aimed his cannon to the left at a retreating bunch of clones. His internal scanners may have been experiencing some technical errors, but his targeting systems weren't. Without hesitating, Megatron open fired upon the humans and Mini-Cons, causing them to explode in multiple clouds of smoke. This puzzled the Decepticon, as he made sure that the blast was powerful enough to vaporize the human, but to only stun the Mini-Con into stasis lock. Not taking the time to contemplate this new development, Megatron fired again and again until nearly all of the copies were eliminated. All that was left was the group of six, three humans and three Mini-Cons, heading north. With a snarl, Megatron ran after them, intent on claiming what he saw as rightfully his.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Spitfire, and their duplicates were running as fast as they could, hoping to get as far away from the metal giant of death. Despite all of this, there was just something that Spitfire couldn't stop thinking about.

"_Naruto, why did you do that!_" he asked as he was running right beside him.

"It's simple, the clones were just a diversion so that we could escape. And having some of the shadow clones use the transformation jutsu is a no brainer, seeing as they have their own supply of chakra that they can use independently." said Naruto, as if they were walking in the park.

"_No, no, that's what I meant! Why did you risk your life protect me and that Mini-Con in your arms? Megatron would have just left you alone if you'd had just given me and the panel to him? I don't understand, why would you put yourself in danger like that!_"

Naruto was silent for a moment, before he answered. "Why would I need a reason to help out a friend?" Suddenly, a laser bolt flew right past Naruto's face and hit the ground ahead of them. Another explosion occurred, leaving yet another smoldering crater in the ground. Going against his better judgment, Naruto turned behind him to see just how far away they were from Megatron. To his dismay, he saw that the giant robot chasing after him, his feet making loud banging sounds every time they made contact with the ground. His cannon was shooting shot after shot at the group, each one getting closer and closer to their position.

"**COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE VERMIN!**" snarled Megatron. Eventually, the Decepticon grew annoyed of chasing after his prey on foot.

"**TRANSFORM!**" Megatron leapt into the air as his form twisted and turned until it took on the appearance of a futuristic military tank, with the main turret cannon blasting away. The shadow clones behind Naruto and Spitfire were destroyed with little resistance as the tank raced towards them, tearing up with its powerful treadmills. Naruto responded by creating thirty more shadow clones, and disguised half of them as Spitfire. Next, he had half of them run ahead with him and Spitfire, while the other half remained behind them. Finally, he grabbed hold of Spitfire's hand (which was mimicked by the clones) before he and the clones began to run around sporadically: they were speeding up, slowing down, zigzagging left to right, doing anything to keep Megatron from hitting the real targets. This only served to anger the giant robot even more.

"Grrr, this is getting monotonous! Leader-1, Powerlink!" ordered Megatron. A small hatch on his gun turret opened, and a small white and turquoise Mini-Con jumped out. This Mini-Con was roughly the size of Spitfire, except its facial features weren't as detailed. Instead of having two eyes and a mouth, it had a yellow visor covering its optics, and an immobile mouth guard. The instant it was out in the open, it transformed into a small four-wheeled dune buggy, with two laser cannons mounted on its back. The Mini-Con then attached itself to a connector port that was on the far right of the turret. Not a second after the connection was made, a pair of two additional laser cannons on the turret's left side folded outwards, resulting in the turret going from having just one cannon to having five. This only made things worse for the escaping entourage as the salvo of laser bolts increased dramatically.

"_I don't believe it! That slagger already got his claws on Leader-1!_" shouted Spitfire in dismay over the heavy bombardment. Fourteen of the clones were destroyed, as the rest desperately tried to dodge the incoming shots.

"Wait, what? Who's Leader-1?" asked Naruto. But he never got his answer as another one of Megatron's shots whizzed by, nearly ripping his nose off. Realizing that now was not a good time to play 20 questions, Naruto kept his attention in front of him, but was distressed to see that they were approaching the village's large defensive wall fairly quickly.

'_Crap! I nearly forgot that damn wall was there! If I don't think of something, we're both gonna be dead meat!' _thought Naruto, as he frantically tried to think of a way to escape. They were nearly at the wall, and it looked like Megatron had them trapped.

"Everyone, grab a partner and scatter!" ordered Naruto, before the entire group split up and ran off in different directions. Megatron did not expect such a tactic from his prey, and stopped so that he could try and get an accurate lock on one of the retreating figures. Yet, he didn't know which one to strike down first, as his scanners _still _couldn't tell which ones were the real ones. And with every passing second, he knew that his quarries were getting further and further away, which in turn made him even more enraged. The very thought of a half-evolved ape getting the better of him, a supreme killing machine, was too humiliating for him to bear. So with a roar of exasperation, Megatron began to turn his turret around and around at a rapid pace, whilst firing at everything that passed in front of his guns. The devastation was horrific; everything was torn apart by the vicious onslaught. Trees were ripped to pieces, the ground was pitted with large craters; the clones never stood a chance against the brutal attack. Having deemed that his attack had gone on long enough, Megatron ceased firing and stopped his turret to survey his handiwork. He was quite impressed with what he saw, nothing seemed to have escaped unscathed; even the large wall that served to keep enemies out of the village had a huge gaping hole in it. He was about to look away, when he suddenly saw both Naruto and Spitfire escape through the wall's new hole, completely unharmed.

At first, Megatron couldn't believe what he had just saw with his own optical sensors; no mere organic could have survived his firepower, they would have been reduced to charred scraps of flesh. But then, he noticed something a few inches in front of the wall's hole. Zooming in on that location, Megatron was shocked to see a hole that was big enough to provide cover for two preteen humans, or one preteen and a Mini-Con. Instantly, the shock turned into rage; pure, unmitigated anger. He had been so focused on destroying the distractions, that his attention was scattered all over the place. And that blasted human had used that to his advantage, no doubt using those blasted copies of himself to dig the hole, and then used it to take cover from the attack. The very thought of being deceived yet again by that worthless human made Megatron experience anger that he hadn't experienced in a long time. Now, more than ever, he wanted to destroy that interloper; to squish it like an Insecticon, to reduce it to a bloody and unrecognizable carcass.

"**YOU FILTHY ORGANIC! I SHALL REDUCE YOUR WORTHLESS BODY TO ASH! I'LL TEAR YOU APART, LIMB BY LIMB!**" roared Megatron, before he continued his pursuit.

**7777777 **

_Meanwhile, with Squad 9 _

"Guy Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Goddamn it! Why does this always happen? Is it too much to ask for a team meeting where Sensei and Lee don't go through these pointless dramatics?" asked a girl that had her brown hair tied up in two buns, and wore an outfit consisting of a pink Chinese-style blouse with green shinobi pants.

"That in itself would be defying fate." said a boy with long black hair tied up by the lower portion of his hair, and the pearl-white, pupil-less eyes that showed he was from the Hyuga clan. His right arm and leg were wrapped in turbine bandages, and he wore some sort of head gear underneath his black headband, leaving the chin straps unfastened and dangling on the sides of his head.

"That sounded almost like a joke, Neji." replied the now identified Tenten. When she didn't get an answer from him, she returned her attention back to watching her other teammate hugging their sensei. They were both wearing the same outfit: a green full-body spandex suit with orange leg warmers, and their headbands acting as belts. They also shared the same bowl cut hairstyles and thick bushy eyebrows. The only notable difference was that Guy Sensei was taller than Rock Lee and that he was wearing his jonin vest unzipped over his own spandex.

"But still, a little change from the ordinary routine would be welcomed." said Tenten. "I mean, it's not like the world will end if something different happens every now and then."

ZAPOW!

BLAM!

ZAPOW!

BLAM!

"What the hell was that!" screeched Tenten, as she heard the explosions and felt the mild tremors that were created on the ground. The new disturbances were powerful enough to bring the two spandex wearers back to reality and out of each others embrace.

"Guy Sensei, perhaps someone has gotten carried away with their youthful training?" asked Rock Lee, who could have easily been mistaken for Mighty Guy's son.

"Lee, we are the only ones that are registered to use this training ground." said Neji, his patience already frayed from the overuse of the word "youth".

"And besides, those explosions don't sound like it was caused by any explosive tag that I know of." added Tenten. More explosions soon followed, each one coming closer and closer to their position. The last explosion sounded off a few yards behind them, but they couldn't see what was causing the blasts, as it was covered by the thick foliage of trees. But they could sense a few chakra signatures approaching them.

"Neji, what do you see!" demanded Guy.

Neji responded by activating his Byakugan, and immediately trained his sight through the thick trees that were in front of the group. What he saw caused his eyebrows to shoot up to his headband. He didn't expect to see so many of what he assumed to be disguised shadow clones behaving in such a manner, nor the vehicle that was in pursuit of them. The Hyuga watched as the clones scattered and the vehicle come to a stop. Then he saw the top section with the barrels begin to spin around at an increasing pace, as well as some sort of energy surge towards the barrel. It was then he realized what was going to happen, as he and his team heard the enraged roar.

"Everyone, get down, now!" shouted Neji, before he dropped the ground on his belly. His teammates quickly followed suit, just in time before the explosions became closer to their position, as well as more frequent and violent. No dared to move a muscle, but that didn't stop Neji from watching as the clones and everything else around them were destroyed with little resistance. Suddenly, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, followed by a metal winged man, emerged from the trees and tried to run, but ended up tripping and crashing to the ground. Tenten saw this and was about to make an effort to help the duo, when a purple streak of light flew out of the foliage and collided on the ground they were standing on, engulfing them completely in a large explosion.

As quickly as the barrage of explosions started, it ended, leaving Squad 9 with a ringing noise in their ears from the attack and a smoking crater that had once been two people. Tenten stared at that crater, as if she were in a trance. It was the first time that she had witnessed a death so gruesome. Sure, she knew that a shinobi had a dangerous life, and that they would be in constant risk of dying in the line of duty, but she never expected to see someone die in such a horrible way.

"Tenten!" shouted Neji, bringing the girl back to reality.

"Wh-wh-wha?" was all that she could manage at the moment.

"I said that those were only shadow clones. I saw them burst into smoke with my Byakugan when they were hit with that attack." explained Neji.

"But what could have caused such unyouthful destruction?" asked Rock Lee.

"I…don't know exactly." replied Neji, his Byakugan eyes never leaving the large strange vehicle. "I've never seen anything like it. But if I had to describe it, I'd say that it looks like a large, mobile cannon."

"What? Does such a thing even exist?" asked Tenten.

"**YOU FILTHY ORGANIC! I SHALL REDUCE YOUR WORTHLESS BODY TO ASH! I'LL TEAR YOU APART, LIMB BY LIMB!**" was the shout that Squad Guy heard coming deep within the smoking foliage.

"I think that we should be more concerned about who is being pursued by that vehicle. I'd say that he was most likely the caster the of those shadow clones. If we don't intervene, chances are the person will be killed." said Neji.

"You can't be serious, Neji! What could three genin and one jonin possibly do against something like a "mobile cannon"? We should alert the Hokage, and have him deal with this threat." said Tenten, still pretty shaken up with the entire experience.

"But what about the person that is being ruthlessly pursued by that weapon? We, as shinobi of the Leaf Village, always pride ourselves in teamwork and looking after our teammates. It would be most unyouthful if we were to leave that person at the mercy of that death machine." countered Lee.

"Spoken like a true shinobi, Lee. The Flames of Youth burn ever so brightly in you, my pupil." said Guy. "But, your teammates do raise valid points. We have no idea what this unknown threat is fully capable of. Therefore, we shall trail this invader, until an opportunity to safely extract its target arises. AND IF WE CANNOT ACCOMPLISH THIS SIMPLE TASK, WE SHALL RUN A HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE ON OUR HANDS!

"YOSH! AND IF WE CANNOT ACCOMPLISH THAT, THEN WE SHALL RUN TWO HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE WHILE CARRYING BOULDERS ON OUR BACKS!" added Rock Lee.

"Can we please cut this nonsense out already! We're wasting time just standing here!" interjected Tenten.

"Um…right. Squad 9, move out!" declared Mighty Guy. Without wasting anymore time, the four shinobi shot off towards where the mobile cannon was last seen.

**7777777 **

_Meanwhile, with Squad 8 _

"Aw, come on! Why can't we come along?" asked Kiba Inuzuka.

"B-b-but Kiba, th-those explosions sounded really close," said Hinata, "a-and what about that voice we just h-heard…"

"Eh? Don't tell me that's what got you all riled up, Hinata. It was probably just some moron fooling around with explosive tags or something."

"I sincerely doubt that, Kiba." said the stoic Shino. "As I have never heard a shinobi refer to someone else as a "filthy organic". Not to mention those threats indicate that whoever voiced them intends to inflict serious harm to someone."

"Alright, alright, so we're possibly facing an escaped mental patient who is extremely violent. I think that four ninja can easily take him down before he carries out those threats." countered Kiba. Akamaru gave an agreeable bark to let his partner know where he stood on the situation.

"This isn't up for debate, Kiba!" said Kurenai sternly. "Despite how prepared you think you are for normal shinobi duties, you and your teammates are just _academy graduates _that have yet to complete their final initiation test. This is a situation that requires a shinobi that has years of experience under their belt, something that neither of you have at the moment."

"Then let _this_ be our initiation test. How can we get any experience if we are always rushed off to the shelters? We can handle this, Sensei, it's what we've been training for our entire lives." retorted Kiba.

"I agree with Kiba, Kurenai Sensei. It would be the most logical plan to have back-up in these sorts of situations. And by letting us accompany you, you will be able to see first hand how we would fair in a combat situation." added Shino. His response had caught Kurenai off guard, expecting him to follow her orders without question. She turned attention to the kunoichi member of her possible genin team. She had witnessed a first-hand account of how callously her father treated Hinata, and knew that her self esteem wasn't very high. It was one of the reasons that she requested Hinata as one of her students. And she knew that throwing Hinata into a situation that she wasn't ready for would completely destroy her self confidence.

"Um…um…" started Hinata, her stutter starting to act up again. "I agree with Kiba a-a-and Shino, y-y-you're going to need b-b-backup."

"Hinata, listen to me," started Kurenai, "don't feel like you-"

"I'm n-not saying this because I feel like I'm pressured to!" Hinata blurted out. "I-I want to prove that I am a capable shinobi. Not just to my teammates, or to you, but to my father and my entire clan." Kurenai said nothing as she looked into Hinata's eyes, searching for any hints that she didn't want to go through with any of this. She was surprised to see pure determination in place of the usual timidity that she had become accustomed to.

"Ah, your new students are just bursting with the Fires of Youth, Kurenai." said a masculine voice. The young jonin held in a groan, as she already knew who was behind her even without turning around. It wasn't that she thought he was a bad guy, but his mannerisms tended to test one's patience.

"Mighty Guy, what brings you here?" asked Kurenai, as she turned to face the spandex clad jonin. But she wasn't expecting to see his genin team with him, which she mentally grimaced once she saw Neji Hyuga giving Hinata a disguised scowl.

"My youthful team and I are on a reconnaissance, and possibly a rescue mission." said Mighty Guy, as he explained what he and his team had witnessed.

"So you think that someone was being targeted by this…_mobile cannon_? Do you have any idea who the target is?"

"To be truthful, I have never seen this young man before," replied Guy "but I do remember that he had bright blonde hair, and was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit."

"N-Naruto!" squeaked Hinata, before she realized how pathetic and unprofessional she sounded in front of Neji.

"Seriously, Naruto? Ha! Trust the dead last to get into a situation like this. He probably tried to pull a prank on someone he shouldn't have. But hey, I'm sure it's nothing we three can handle." said Kiba. His canine companion barked in agreement.

"Heh, it looks like the academy's graduation standards have declined over the past year, seeing as they somehow saw fit to allow you lot to pass." sneered Neji.

"What was that, punk! Just who do you think you are, looking down on us?" snarled Kiba.

"I should be asking you the exact same thing, rookie! You think that just because you graduated from the academy, that you are invincible? That you are immediately an expert shinobi? If so, then it's clear that the academy no longer determines whether a student should be allowed to graduate by skill and intellect alone. But, I guess it also helps if you happen to be a heir or heiress of major shinobi clan." replied Neji, finishing with a slightly intensified glare towards Hinata. Hinata tried her best not to be intimidated by her cousin, but couldn't help but divert her gaze away from Neji. Kiba, on the other hand, was literally growling, fighting to keep the surging rage within him at bay. He always hated arrogant punks that treated everyone around them like they were mere commoners; he had to deal with Sasuke in his class for crying out loud. Shino made no visible reaction to Neji's barb, save for the slight crease in his brow, and the slight buzzing sound emitting from him.

"Furthermore, have you even stopped to actually _think _about the situation your former classmate is in before you assure yourself that you can remedy it? This _Naruto _is currently being pursued by massive mobile weapon that had just appeared out of no where, undetected by anyone, and has the fire power to completely annihilate almost anything in its path. Do you actually have a plan to stop that abomination, or will you succumb to the fate of being another figure in the statistics for the early death rate for genins? And as for your friend, considering his situation, I'd say that his fate has already been sealed." the elder Hyuga finished with a frown.

"Neji, you didn't need to be so harsh like that!" snapped Tenten. She then turned to face the trio with a somewhat softer expression than Neji. "But he does have point. This is like nothing that was taught in the academy, even _we _weren't thrown into situations like this right after our graduation. You have to work your way up by doing training and easy missions first, before you take on the harder jobs."

"While you are correct in your assumption, I believe that it would be more beneficial if we got a first hand experience of what to expect as new members of the shinobi corps." countered Shino.

"Or, it could have do more harm than good. Each person reacts differently to these sorts of experiences."

"Hey, we are more than capable of handling any situation your team deals with!" interrupted Kiba.

"Look, this is not the place nor time for this discussion, my comrades. Every minute we waste, the more time that unyouthful weapon has to capture its unfortunate target." said Lee, wanting to stop the argument before it escalated.

"My pupil is correct, this is not the time or place to be arguing amongst ourselves." said Guy. "We must hurry if we are to save poor Naruto."

"Which is why my team and I will assist you in any way we can, Guy." added Kurenai, before Guy started listing all of the ridiculous tasks he would do if he failed.

"What? You're serious, Sensei?" exclaimed Kiba, excited that he was finally going to get to see some real action. But the feeling didn't last long, as his sensei shot him a look that he had seen whenever his mother was lecturing about something important.

"Do not treat this as a field trip, Kiba. I am only allowing you and your teammates to come along so that you all can get a strong understanding of what's to be expected of you three. But let me make this perfectly clear to all of you: _**I **_am in charge, and I expect that my commands are followed to the letter. You are not to make a move unless _**I **_tell you to. If tell you to take cover, you take cover. If I tell to retreat, you retreat. And if any you disobeys just one of my orders, or decides to be the hero, you will be stripped of your headbands and kicked out of the shinobi corps. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" the red-eyed jonin said in a dead serious tone.

His sensei's serious attitude caused the young Inuzuka's confidence to waver a bit. He didn't expect her to be this strict. But, he rationalized that it was the only way to become stronger. After all, like the old saying goes: no pain, no gain.

"I understand, Kurenai Sensei." said Kiba, calmly.

"I also agree to your conditions, Sensei." stated Shino.

"I-I'll do my best to p-prove myself, Sensei." replied Hinata meekly. '_I can't afford to mess up, for Naruto's sake._' she added mentally.

'_These three might have some potential after all. I just hope that I'm not doing something that I'm going to regret later on.' _thought Kurenai. "Very well, I'll hold you three to it. You lead the way, Guy."

"Yosh! Let us be off!" exclaimed Mighty Guy, as he set of, with his genin and Team 8 trailing behind him.

**7777777 **

_Back at the Point of Origin _

"God Damn! Looks like we missed one _hell_ of a party!" exclaimed Anko, as she surveyed the damage all around the area. She wasn't part of the 3-man ANBU squadron that was mobilized, nor was she a jonin sensei, but was with them on the grounds that someone was possibly vandalizing the grounds near her favorite training area, the Forest of Death. Considering her reputation, the ANBU and jonin didn't feel like trying to tell her to leave.

"Huh, it looks like someone was recklessly using explosive tags, or possibly some other types of explosives." stated one of the ANBU.

"At first glance, it does." replied Asuma. "But, I doubt that you can find explosives that can make these sort of craters at your local shinobi weapons shop. Not even the Twelve Guardian Ninja or the samuri have tools this destructive."

"Not to mention that there seems to be some sort of residue substance in the craters." added Kakashi, his Sharingan eye gazing at a crater. "It looks similar to chakra, but the color is all wrong. Normal chakra is usually blue, yet this substance has a light purple color."

"And check out this out!" called out Anko, as she pointed to what appeared to be another crater a few feet away from where the group was standing.

"Big deal, we've got plenty those laying all over the ground." said another nameless ANBU.

"Trust me, you would want to see this one." said Anko with a serious look replacing the dangerous smirk that was usually there.

Seeing the look, the two jonin and ANBU decided to at least humor her. But what they saw was not what they had expected. Instead of the normal circular crater, there was a rectangular indent that wasn't as deep as the previous ones. More specifically, it had a jagged saw-like section that was in the front of it, acting like some sort of toe.

"It looks like some kind of…footprint." said Asuma. "But that's impossible. I've never heard of any sort of summons that makes these sort of tracks."

"Maybe that's because we're not dealing with any sort of animal at all." said the ANBU captain. "Look, these footprints continue on for a while before they change."

Sure enough, a few yards from they were standing, the group saw that the "footprints" disappeared, and were replaced two rectangular tread-like tracks that were parallel to each other. These new sets of tracks continued down the path of the battle scarred landscape.

"Looks like,…whatever this thing is,…went down this way, and is going to come across the village's wall. If we're lucky we can possibly catch up to it and actually see what we're dealing with."

"There's more bad news, I'm afraid." interrupted Kakashi. He was looking at several pairs of smaller footprints that were in between the larger set of tracks. "There are more sets of footprints here, . From what I can tell, one of them was made by shinobi-style sandals. The other set, on the other hand, I have no idea who they belong to.

"So,…this thing…is possibly chasing after one of our shinobi." stated the ANBU that had remained silent throughout the entire investigation.

"Right then, it looks like the situation has changed from possible enemy espionage/sabotage to an assassination scenario. Our main objectives are to find this intruder and prevent from reaching his or her target." stated the ANBU captain. "Let's move out, we can't afford to waste any more time."

With that, the five shinobi, and one kunoichi, set off, following the long trail of destruction.

**7777777 **

_Back with Naruto and Spitfire _

"_Naruto, where the spark are we going?_" hollered Spitfire, as the sounds of Megatron pursuing them assaulted his audio receptors, the cannons firing almost nonstop sounded loudly behind them. They were currently heading towards a mountain range that jutted in towards the village, with the village's protective wall built to include part of the mountain side. Coincidentally, this was the spot that the Hokage Monument was created, and the spot where Naruto found Spitfire's panel.

"We're going to get some cover from Megatron. There's an old, abandoned base hidden in this mountain. It was mainly used as a safeguard in case enemy ninja were to mount an attack on the village, and as a backup communications station." Naruto shouted over the laser blasts.

"_Can't we just take cove in that forest on our right? We'd probably have more success losing him there._" said the Mini-Con.

"No way in hell! That's the Forest of Death, the most dangerous training area this village has to offer! We'd practically be signing our own death warrants if we went through there!" rebutted Naruto, the fear in his voice widely apparent to the Mini-Con.

"_But_ _what good will one base do against Megatron? He'd just run right through it with that tank mode of his._"

"No, he won't. The entrance to the base is blocked by several jagged rocks. They were probably part of the mountain at on time, before the weather or the shinobi themselves separated them from the main mountain."

"_How do you __**know **__all of this?_"

"Hey, you tend to pick up a few things when you're trying to hide from a mob of drunken villagers."

Spitfire made a mental note to throw rocks at some of the civilian's windows at midnight, if they ever got out of this mess. But, he was beginning to have severe doubts that he would ever see another day in the Leaf Village, what with Megatron bearing down their necks. He knew all to well how Megatron treated those he captured, and what he did to those he deemed useless to him. And given all of the trouble Naruto had caused Megatron, Spitfire knew for sure that the Decepticon would force his friend to a life of endless suffering and menial labor, if he didn't kill the boy first.

But as they neared their destination, however, Spitfire saw what Naruto was talking about. Ahead of them, there were several sections of rock that seemed to be jutting out of the ground, leaving very little room in between them. They looked extremely thick and about a foot taller than Megatron in his robot mode (if Spitfire had to estimate); a perfect defense against enemies. But the most distinguishing part of the base was the large building that looked as if it were being swallowed up by the mountain. It basically looked as if there was a cubical building encased in the mountain, with one corner jutting out in the open.

Megatron also saw this, but thought nothing of it. '_Pah! As if a few pointy rocks and a disused base can stand up against the might of Megatron!_' he thought to as he watched as the human and the Mini-Con pass through the first line of rocks, he was in for a nasty surprise. Megatron continued on, determined to capture his quarry, until his right, front treadmill smashed into one of the rocks. He felt shuddering jolt before he stopped moving completely.

"What?" roared Megatron, as he tried to advance towards Naruto and Spitfire, only for his treadmills to spin uselessly, kicking up dirt behind them.

"Arrgh! This cannot be happening! I refuse be made a fool by some human in this infernal steam punk world!" hollered the Decepticon as he pushed against the rock with all of his might, but the rock wouldn't budge. He couldn't back up and turn around, there were rocks to the left and right of the one currently blocking him, all of them were too close together for him to pass by between them. And he couldn't simply pass over or through them in robot mode, the rocks were too tall, the spaces between them were too narrow for him to move freely. Again, Megatron felt his rage burning hotter and hotter within him.

"See, what did I tell you?" said Naruto to Spitfire, as they ran through the rocky barriers. "Megatron isn't going anywhere for a while. Now all we have to do is t-"

ZAPOW!

BLAM!

"Whoa!" exclaimed Naruto as a laser blast struck the rock that was in front of him, reducing it to rubble.

Looking back, the duo flinched when they saw Megatron blasting away with his cannons, carving himself an opening. He had already destroyed about two thirds of the field, and was now working on the remaining third. But even this was not good enough for Megatron.

"TRANSFORM!" roared Megatron. A second later, his form changed back to his robot mode, and he ran towards the last line of the rocky defense.

"Shit! We've got to move! Come on, Spitfire!" Naruto said, pulling the Mini-Con through the base's entrance. They made it in just time, as Megatron rammed himself against the base's last line of defense. Despite the amount of force behind the collision, the rocks still remained, with only a few cracks to show for Megatron's handiwork. This did not deter the giant at all, as he soon began rain his fists down, one after the other, upon the obstructions blocking his path. He had gone through this humiliation at the hands of some organic for far too long, that he refused to return now empty-handed. Without warning, his internal scanners alerted him that three energy signatures had been detected behind him. Megatron quickly turned around to see who had the nerve to sneak up behind him, only to see that it was a trio of masked humans, wearing some sort of chest armor underneath beige cloaks, and had some sort of bladed weapons strapped to their backs. Not wanting anymore interference with the locals, Megatron quickly leveled his fusion cannon at the interlopers, and fired a quick shot. They never stood a chance. Pleased at seeing their smoldering remains scattered about, Megatron resumed his onslaught on the rocky barrier.

"Dammit! Those won't last long against him. We have to find higher ground. Come on, Spitfire, this way!" said Naruto, as began to lead the Mini-Con towards a flight of stairs that seemed to spiral up in a rectangular pattern to the upper levels of the building. But his progress stopped abruptly, as he felt like a dog that had just run to the end of its leash. Looking back, he saw that Spitfire was gawking up at the stairs, his frame trembling slightly.

"Spitfire? Spitfire, what's wrong? We have to keep moving!"

"_H-h-how h-h-high up do th-these stairs go?_" asked Spitfire, a quiver easily heard when he spoke.

"Last time I checked, all the way to the top of the mountain. Why do you ask?"

"_I-isn't there some other way to escape than going u-up t-t-there?_"

"It's only way that leads to the outside. Megatron's at the only entrance, and the only passage ways left lead to an underground hideout. And personally, I prefer to take my chances out in the open than enclosing myself in a possible coffin."

"_No! C-c-c-can't g-g-g-go up t-t-t-there!_"

"What's your problem? You've been around high places before: like the Hokage Monument and the Old Man's office. So why is this any different?"

"_I h-had been to those places before, and I was with familiar people before during those times. But this is a c-c-c-completely different area, and I have no idea how high up we're g-g-g-going to end up. And thinking about climbing up unfamiliar high places m-m-m-makes my central processor freeze up, I start to t-t-t-t-witch uncontrollably, I relive unpleasant m-m-m-memories, and basically go into st-st-stasis lock._"

"But, this is a matter of life or death! Megatron is out there, and all we have to keep him out of this place is a measly line of mountain rocks! If we don't move now, we're as good as dead!"

"_I c-c-c-can't, t-t-too s-s-scared to m-m-move…_"

"Spitfire, come on, please! We have to go now!"

"_N-n-no, c-c-can't go through it again. Can't g-g-go down alone, not again…_"

"Spitfire! Listen to me!" said Naruto suddenly, as he grabbed the Mini-Con by the shoulders and shook him until he was brought out of his stupor. He was met with a serious looking Naruto, his eyes blazing with determination. "You are not going to die, and you're not going up there alone. I'll be with you every step of the way. And I'll make sure that Megatron never lays a finger one you. I promise you that I'll do everything within my power to make sure you and this panel stays safe."

Spitfire just stared at Naruto with what was akin awe. This young human saw first hand what Megatron was willing to do to accomplish his objectives, and how violent he would become if anyone decided to stand up against him. The blonde could have just avoided all of this destruction, if he had just given him and the panel to Megatron. Yet, here he was risking his very life just to keep an alien he didn't truly know safe.

"_Alright, lets get out of here._" said Spitfire. Without another word, the escaping duo ran up the stairs. They managed to make to about half way past the second level before they heard a loud crash, and the clattering of debris. Then came the thunderous footsteps, which meant only one thing: Megatron was inside the base.

"SURPRISE! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME, I CAN SMELL YOU, BOY!" was the roar that echoed within the building. Naruto didn't dare to stop and see where Megatron was, and kept running until he reached the third floor. At this point, the stairs continued on the other side, meaning that they had to run across the floor in order to get the stairs. Naruto didn't like this, as it meant that he could be an easy target for Megatron to pick off, but knew that they had to keep going. They were about half way across, when Naruto sensed something approaching them from behind. Without any warning, the claw-horned head of Megatron broke through the floor, like a shark's dorsal fin breaking through water. The next instant, Megatron's left hand erupted from the floor as it made a wild attempt to grasp the duo. With a burst of energy that he didn't know he had, Naruto doubled his pace and had _just _made it to the stairs as Megatron's hand swiped at the space they last occupied.

Megatron snarled in frustration, seeing that the human with the Mini-Cons had _yet again _managed to escape him. Looking up at the spiraling stairs, he saw that blasted human and the Mini-Con gazing down at him over the stairs' railing, as if he were some sort of exhibit at a museum.

"Maggot!" he snarled, as he shot a glare at the two, before their heads disappeared, and the sound of fast footsteps began again.

**7777777 **

_With the Squad 8 and 9 _

"Augh, just how far did that blonde knucklehead go anyways?" asked Kiba, as he and the rest of Squad 8 followed Guy's team.

"Quiet back there! We don't want you give our positions away!" interjected Neji.

"Sheesh, he didn't have to be a jerk about it." muttered the Inuzuka. As he looked around the area, he couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed with what he saw. Large craters were all over the ground, and some of the trees looked as if they were blasted apart. Not only that, but there was this strange scent that seemed to get stronger as they followed the trail of destruction, towards some sort of building in the mountains. He didn't know what was causing the smell, but it was certainly causing Akamaru a great deal of distress.

"Hey, what's wrong, boy?" asked Kiba. Akamaru just whimpered pitifully, and shrunk back in his master's parka.

"W-what's wrong with Akamaru, Kiba?" asked Hinata, after hearing the puppy's whining.

"Hey, I said to be quiet back there!" interrupted Neji.

Don't yell at your comrades like that! They could have picked up valuable information. And besides, with you yelling like that, you're the one that's most likely going to alert the enemy of our position!" snapped Kurenai. If there was one thing that really made her mad, it was teammates looking down at their comrades. "Kiba, is there something that you need to tell us?"

"It's just that, Akamaru is getting more and more anxious the further we go. And he never behaves like this unless there is-"

Suddenly, the young Inuzuka picked up a scent that he had smelled before, but never in large amounts. Even though it was mixed with the foreign scent, there was no mistake that it was…

"Blood! I smell blood up ahead, and lots of it!" declared the Inuzuka, immediately garnering the attention of everyone.

"Are you sure?" asked Guy, his jovial attitude replaced with a dead serious one.

"Positive, I'd recognize that smell anywhere. Even though it is mixed with something else I can't identify, there's definitely blood up ahead." said Kiba.

Guy was silent for a moment before he stopped, with the remaining ninja mimicking his actions. Ahead of them, the gathered shinobi were speechless at what they saw. The ground was riddled with craters and crushed stones, and the building looked as if something huge had plowed itself through the entrance. But the most disturbing sight was the crater that was in front of the scattered remains of what appeared to be humans. There were no intact bodies, just scattered pieces of burnt flesh, with only a semi-masked head and a severed hand giving hints to what they once were.

"Shit…" was the only thing that Kiba could say, while Akamaru just whimpered and hid himself completely in Kiba's parka. The other genin weren't fairing as well either. Lee looked as green as his spandex, Hinata was trembling before she couldn't take it anymore and threw up. Tenten was beside her, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her. Neji tried to maintain his dignified and serious expression, but couldn't help but mentally cringe at what he saw. A deep buzzing sound came from Shino, indicating his distress over the situation.

Guy and Kurenai, on the other hand, were more focused on the head wearing the partially destroyed mask. They said nothing, but nodded to each other at the silent message they sent to each other: these were _his _men.

"Look! Someone is up on the roof!" exclaimed Lee. He was pointing to something at the top of the building.

**7777777 **

_With Naruto and Spitfire_

Come on, Spitfire, we're almost there!" Naruto called back to his metallic friend, as he led him to the left edge of the building. It had been a harrowing race, but they managed to finally reach the top. Spitfire followed with his optics focused on the ground, trying his best not to look around to see just how high up they were. "There should be a bridge goes over this huge crevice between the mountain and the building. If we cross that, then-"

Naruto suddenly stopped, causing Spitfire to run into him as his eyes were still glued to the ground.

"_Naruto? Naruto, what the Pit? Why did we stop?_" asked Spitfire.

"The bridge…is gone."

"_WHAT?_"

"I said that it's gone. It must of collapsed due to rust or something. Forget about that, we'll just-"

Naruto heard a faint boom coming from underneath him. Then, without warning, a giant fist broke through the roof, followed quickly by another fist. Soon afterwards, Megatron himself broke through what remained of the roof. Naruto quickly backed away as Megatron pulled himself onto the top of the building.

"So tell me, is it _fear _or _courage _that compels you, fleshling?" snarked Megatron, as he slowly stalked towards the orange clad human. Naruto just slowly backed away one step for each step Megatron took forward. Suddenly he stopped when he heard the sound of rubble slipping off the edge. Chancing a glance behind him, he saw that he was about step away from falling over the edge.

**7777777 **

_Back at Ground Level _

"Naruto!" wailed Hinata, as she watched on helplessly.

Both Guy and Kurenai couldn't help but gawk at what they saw on the roof. Never in their entire lives had they seen anything like what was standing on top of the old base. At first, they thought that it was just a powerful genjutsu, but realized that wasn't the case once they tried to dispel it.

"What the hell, Neji? I thought we were dealing with a giant mobile cannon!" interjected Kiba, Akamaru now quivering uncontrollably in his parka.

"We were, I mean, we are!" said Neji, his Byakugan still active. "I think that _thing _is the cannon!"

"What the hell are you talking about, now?"

"That giant has some of the components that made up the cannon. Like those structures that are on its shoulders and head."

"If that's the case, then how did it change from a cannon to a giant man?" asked Tenten.

"I have no idea, Tenten." was all that Neji could say.

**7777777 **

_Back with Naruto _

'_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! What am I going to do now? We're practically trapped like rats!_' Naruto mentally ranted, as he tried desperately to think of a way to escape.

Spitfire wasn't fairing any better. _'No, this can't end like this! Not after everything Naruto's been through! And just when he was going to begin his career as a ninja! He risked so much to protect me, and now I've practically placed a giant target on the back of his head. I can't let Megatron get his hands on him, but what can acrophobic 'bot like me do? I haven't flown in stellar cycles! I mean, will my flight systems still function?_'

"But, despite all that you've put me through, I will give you this, human. As annoying as you are, your unique abilities have piqued my interest." said Megatron, bringing both human and Mini-Con out of their musings. The sneer on his face showing that he was enjoying every second of their predicament.

"I'm a reasonable 'bot, so I shall give you this last deal that you'll find to be most generous on my part." he continued, as he moved his fusion cannon to aim directly at Naruto. "Hand over the Mini-Con standing behind you, _as well as _the panel you have in your arms, and you may live to be my pet. Or, you continue your futile resistance, and I end your miserable existence."

'_That's it! I have to at least give it try. Anything's better than being at the mercy of this psychopath!'_ thought Spitfire. Inching as slowly as he could, Spitfire got as close to Naruto as he could without drawing Megatron's attention. "_Naruto, I've got a plan. Provoke Megatron to shoot._" whispered the small jet bot.

"What?" Naruto barely whispered back.

"_Make Megatron shoot at us, and when I give the signal, jump off the edge. I've stared down the barrel of that blasted weapon several times before, so I have a pretty good idea of when to dodge the blasts." _

"Yeah, but then what? We'd be falling to our deaths, unless…Spitfire are you-"

"_It's our only other option left. It's either this, or we submit to Megatron._"

"But, your fear of heights, and…"

"_I know, Naruto. But, what else can we do? Please, you have to trust me on this._"

Naruto remained silent for a moment, trying to at least think about their current situation. He come up with any other way to escape, but he wasn't too thrilled of jumping off a mountain without any way of landing safely.

"Well, what is your answer human?" shouted Megatron impatiently.

Steeling himself, Naruto glared up at the Decepticon, and flipped him the bird. "Up yours, Claw Head!" yelled Naruto.

Megatron scowled down at the human. "Oh, so unwise." he said in a deadly low tone, while priming his cannon. Naruto watched in astonished horror as he heard the fusion generator whir to life, and saw a purple glow inside the barrel getting brighter and brighter. Spitfire kept his gaze locked onto the barrel, waiting until the purple glow reached its maximum level, without getting any brighter.

"_NOW!_"

Naruto wasted no time, and threw himself and Spitfire over the edge, just as Megatron shot at the place they once stood. The blast exploded on impact, sending stone rubble and bits of metal raining down towards them. But Naruto didn't notice, as his attention was focused on the ground that was quickly becoming closer and closer.

'_Alright, it's now or never._' thought Spitfire. "_TRANSFORM!_" Instantly, Spitfire's form shifted until he resembled the jet mode that he had displayed at the Hokage's office. Quickly, Spitfire altered his fall so that he was right next to Naruto.

"_Naruto, grab on!_" he shouted. Naruto wasted no time in following that order. After quickly stuffing the Mini-Con panel underneath his jacket, he quickly grasped onto Spitfire's wings, and placed his feet on top of the vertical stabilizers. With his friend onboard, Spitfire tried to activate his long, disused jet engines. He had a bit trouble at first, but soon heard the low hum of his engines, as they began to power up.

"_Hang on tight, because we are outta' here!_" was Naruto's only warning before he felt himself rocket towards the ground, before leveling out horizontally at speeds that he could only dream of. It took everything that he had not to let go, as everything that he saw became a blur.

Megatron watched on as his targets flew away, silently seething with fury. This was not what was supposed to happen, nor was this conflict supposed to last this long. But he was sure as the Pit that he would end it. Reaching up to the left side of his head, he activated his commlink.

"Demolishor, do you read me?" he said into the link. There was a moment of silence before he got a response.

-Yes, sir! I read you loud and clear, Megatron, sir! Have you acquired the Mini-Con yet, sir?-

Megatron gritted his "teeth", just barely holding back his anger. If there was one thing he hated more than failure, it was when he had to explain to his soldiers that _he _had failed!

"Not quite, there have been a few…altercations. The Mini-Con was already discovered by a human, but unlike the others we've already encountered, this one has displayed some abilities that I have never seen before. Coincidentally, the human was accompanied by a Mini-Con that was already awakened, possibly the same one that you lost."

-Oh, really? That's great news, Megatron, sir! I knew that if anyone could find that Mini-Con, it would be you sir!-

"Enough of your annoying drivel! Do you still have a lock on the Mini-Con panel?"

-Yes, sir! It's currently moving southwest, but I don't know where it'll end up.-

"Good. Make sure you don't _lose _it. Meanwhile, prepare the warp gate for my return to base. When the signal finally stops moving, prepare a warp gate at those coordinates. You, Cyclonus, and I will warp to that site and obtain both the Mini-Cons and the human. And make sure that glitch-head, Cyclonus, understands that I want that human _alive _and in one piece, got it?"

-Yes, sir! Right away, sir!-

As he waited for the warp gate to reopen, Megatron looked down from where was standing, and saw the assembled group of humans that were at the base of the building, some were gazing off towards where the Mini-Con flew off, while the rest were still looking towards him. Zooming in on them, he saw that were wearing the same metal-plated headband as that annoying blonde human. Just the thought of that insect sent waves of rage coursing through his entire frame. And seeing even more humans wearing that same headband just made it worse. With a quick snap of his wrist, he leveled his cannon down at the group of humans, and fired three shots towards them. He watched as they quickly scattered out of the way, like the miserable insects they were. With a smirk, he disappeared through the warp gate.

**7777777 **

_With the fleeing duo _

"YYYYYAHHHHHHHHH!" was all that Naruto could say as held on for dear life. He never expected he would be flying today, let alone at the speed Spitfire was going. And it didn't help that Spitfire occasionally wobbled as they zoomed across the land. He could barely keep his eyes open, and what he could see where just unrecognizable blurs. He thought that they went past a few teams of shinobi, but he couldn't tell; they were going way too fast.

"Spitfire, where are we going?" Naruto screamed over the pounding slipstream.

"_Don't know, don't care, just as long as it's away from Megatron!_" said Spitfire, though Naruto noted that it sounded that Spitfire was struggling with something. The blonde just thought that it had to do with the fact that the Mini-Con hadn't flown in years. Suddenly, Naruto saw the amount of trees diminish, and that buildings were becoming more and more common.

"Spitfire, you've flown into the village!" exclaimed Naruto, his voice sounding more frantic than ever. "Quick, get us out of here before the ANBU are alerted!"

"_I'm trying to! I'm a bit rusty when it comes to flying, you know!_" replied Spitfire, before he altered his course and increase the output of his engines. The sudden burst of speed nearly threw Naruto off, but he had somehow managed to maintain his grip. Despite the wind that was pounding against his ears, he could still hear the startled screams of the people down below. A few of them he could partially make out came from shinobi calling for reinforcements.

Luckily, they had only reentered the village around the center, so the main village gate wasn't that far off. Already, he could see it looming at a decreasing distance. They were a few seconds away from flying over it, when suddenly a huge thick wall of earth shot up in front of them, effectively blocking their way. Naruto instantly knew that a ninja was responsible, and knew that at the speed they were going that Spitfire didn't have enough time to evade or change directions. Realizing what would be ahead, Naruto grimaced and prepared himself for the sickening crash that was about to come. Spitfire, however, had other plans. Spitfire locked onto the wall ahead of him, and open fired with the machine guns built into his nosecone. The wall exploded, creating a huge cloud of dust and rubble, that covered the two whilst they flew over the main gate. They continued on for what seemed like hours before Spitfire couldn't go on any longer.

"_Naruto, brace yourself! This might be a rough landing!_" said Spitfire, as he began to slowly descend towards the ground. Just as they were about touchdown, Spitfire quickly transformed back into robot mode before he and Naruto landed roughly on the ground, tumbling around before finally coming to a stop, laying on their backs. The two remained that way, trying to recover from the sudden rush of their escape.

"Was…was that…your first flight…in years?" asked Naruto in between breaths.

"_Yeah…that pretty much sums it up. Not bad after a few solar cycles of being grounded, huh?_" replied an equally winded Mini-Con.

"Well, you managed to get us a few miles out of the Leaf Village." said Naruto as he got to his feet, before helping Spitfire to his. As he looked around he saw that they were in a clearing, "And, we got away from Megatron!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that!" came voice from behind them; a voice that filled them with dread. Whipping around, Naruto saw that it was none other than Megatron himself, sneering down at them.

"Wha? How did you get here so fast? And how did you know where to find us!" demanded Naruto.

"Simple, human. All Mini-Con panels transmit a frequency that can be easily be tracked by our base. All we had to do was what for you to stop moving. As to how I got here so fast? Well, once you have mastered transwarp technology, there is no limit to where you can travel to." replied Megatron, an arrogant smirk on his face. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I've brought some _friends_ along with me."

With that two more giant robots "transwarped" into the area, effectively surrounding the duo in a triangular formation. The one to Naruto's right had weird looking hands, two spikes on each shoulder, and had green eyes with the right one considerably larger than the left one. On his left stood a bot that had two cannons mounted on his arms, some weird structure on his back, and seemed to be sniggering while its green eyes never left him. Both of them bore the same purple insignia that Megatron proudly wore.

"Heh heh, so _this _is what you woke me up for, Demolishor? Well, it sure beats laying around the base all day." said the giggling robot.

"Just remember that I want the human _alive_ and in _one _piece, Cyclonus, you blundering idiot. That goes for you too, Demolishor." said Megatron.

"Yes, sir!" barked the one designated as Demolishor.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it, boss. It's not like this little human is going to give the three of us any problems." replied Cyclonus.

"Oi! Haven't you metallic morons learned already?" shouted Naruto, drawing in their attention. He then quickly proceeded to channel as much chakra as he could into his most advanced jutsu. "FIRST RULE OF COMBAT: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENTS! **Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu! Transform!**" Immediately, the area that the Decepticons enclosed was filed with smoke.

"Hey, hey! What the spark is going on!" demanded Cyclonus, as he tried to get a grip on what happened in front of him.

"Urgh, this was the reason I called you all here!" snarled Megatron, his gaze sweeping across the large mass of figures, all looking like Naruto and Spitfire. "Contain the entire group, without causing severe harm to any of them! Make sure that none of them escape!"

"**CCCCCHHHARRRGGGGEEEEE!**" roared the newly created army, as the all lunged towards the three colossal metal giants. The Decepticons were shocked when they felt several sensations land hard on their legs, especially Megatron.

'_So my theory _was _right after all! This human has the power to create physical duplicates of himself, as well as the power to alter his physical appearance. Yet, these duplicates aren't that very durable._' Megatron observed, as he swiped at some clones that were crawling up his legs, turning them into clouds of smoke. As he looked towards his men, he saw that they too had clones crawling all over them. Those blasted things still tried to escape, but he and his troops still managed to stop them, albeit a bit more clumsily than usual due to them having the many "humans" and "Mini-Cons" crawling all over them. The entire situation was extremely aggravating, and his temper was dangerously close to erupting. Unfortunately, Cyclonus's infamous hair-trigger temper wasn't doing much to help.

"You blasted pests, get off of me! Get off! Hey, don't do that! ARGH! You know what, slag this! I'm handling this the only way that works! Transform!" Cyclonus jumped in the air and converted into his vehicle mode: a heavily armed combat helicopter. He then elevated up until he was at a favorable altitude, and leveled his laser cannons at the group.

"Cyclonus, wait, don't do it!" yelped Demolishor. But his warning was met with deaf audio receptors. Cyclonus fired a shot and the large mass of clones they had corralled. The resulting explosion threw the clones all over the place. But as they hit the ground, they and the ones that were still clinging to the Decepticons poofed out of existence until there was only one human and Mini-Con lying on the ground, motionless. Seeing that he had accomplished in putting an end to that annoyance, Cyclonus dropped down to the ground and transformed back into robot mode.

"Ha! That was easy!" he said confidently, unaware of the impending pain he was about to experience until it was too late.

"**YOU IDIOTIC FOOL!**" roared Megatron, as he landed a ferocious punch to the side of Cyclonus's head, sending him crashing to the ground. **"I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU THAT I WANTED THAT HUMAN **_**ALIVE**_**, YOU IGNORANT BUFFOON, **_**NOT **_**FOR IT TO BE BLOWN APART! AND NOT ONLY THAT, DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT YOU COULD HAVE ALSO DESTROYED THE MINI-CON PANEL THAT IT HAD, AS WELL AS THE ONE THAT WAS WITH IT? JUST HOW STUPID ARE YOU? NOT EVEN **_**STARSCREAM **_**IS THIS MORONIC!**" The Decepticon commander stalked over to the quivering Cyclonus, who was on his knees and groveling towards him.

"P-p-please forgive me, Megatron! I couldn't help it! I've always gotten rid of pests with my guns, you know that. I mean, come on, that thing was annoying you as much as it was me, right?'

"Save your petty excuses." said Megatron dangerously, as he raised his fist to continue his assault. Demolishor saw this, and quickly tried to intervene on behalf of his comrade. He focused his scanners on the downed human, and did a thorough analysis on it.

"Megatron, sir, I've just finished a preliminary scan on the human, and found out that it is just unconscious. Also, both the activated Mini-Con, and the panel sustained no damage from the attack." said Demolishor quickly, stopping Megatron from carrying out Cyclonus's punishment.

"Hrm, don't think that this is over, Cyclonus. You're just lucky that the human and Mini-Cons survived your blunder." said Megatron, as he approached the two figures laying on the ground unconscious. "But make no mistake, you _will _be punished for your recklessness once we return to base." He was just about reach down a grab a hold of his prize, when something struck him from behind and exploded upon impact. The explosion didn't really hurt, bit it did startle the Decepticon.

"That's as far as you're getting to them, Megatron!" declared a voice from behind. Megatron's optics narrowed at the sound of that voice. He didn't need to see who it belonged to, as he had encountered the owner several times before. He was possibly the only Transformer that Megatron had both despised and respected at the same time. The one 'bot that could easily match him combat, the leader those blasted Autobots! Megatron whirled around to see a red and blue robot pointing an ion blaster at him, the barrel still smoking from firing a shot. It was none other than…

"Optimus Prime!"

_To Be Continued… _

****

**7777777 **

**And here is the latest edition. This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written for this story. As you can see, I've added a little something-something from the 2007 live-action movie. Sorry that the wait was so long, but a lot of things happened last year at college, and none of them were good. I wanted to post this on Christmas, but couldn't finish on time. I tried for New Years Eve and Day, but ended up with similar results. So, think of this a my belated birthday present, which was two days ago. Also, I am looking for some artists that are good at drawing robots/Transformers and anime characters. I was hoping to get some possible drawings to go along with my current and future stories. If there's anyone that you know of that are up for a challenge, please leave send a PM.**


	8. Intervention

**Naruto, From Ninja to Autobot **

**Once again, I own nothing! **

_Blah'_ - inner thoughts (both humans and Transformers)

"Blah" - talking

"_Blah"_ - talking in the Mini-Con's language

'_**Blah'**_ - demon talking (including Inner Sakura)

"**Blah" **- jutsu being performed

"**BLAH"** - really angry yelling

-Blah- - someone talking through a radio/communicator link

**#** - scene change

**88888888 **

**Chapter 8: Intervention **

"I'm only going to say this once, Megatron. Back away from the Mini-Con, and I'll let you leave with what's left of your dignity!" ordered Optimus, as he leveled his ion blaster at his long time enemy. It had been a difficult task pinpointing the coordinates of the new Mini-Con's position; the base's detection systems had nearly lost the energy signature several times. It had taken the combined efforts of both Alexis and Red Alert before the coordinates were locked on for the warp gate's position.

"Prime! I should have expected this; you always seem to arrive at the most inappropriate times! But it doesn't matter! I refuse to leave this spark-forsaken dump, empty-handed!" Megatron shot back at the Autobot leader. The Decepticon commander was seething with rage. He had the Mini-Cons and human specimen literally inches away from his grasp, before that infernal Autobot commander had arrived.

Optimus was about to take a step forward, until he noticed the unconscious human that was beside the Mini-Con at Megatron's feet. The very sight of the injured boy made Optimus's energon boil. Although he was aware of the lengths Megatron would go to achieve his goals, it still disgusted him to see how easily he would destroy innocent lives just to get what he wanted.

"Megatron, you will pay for what you've done to the inhabitants of this world!"

"Phah! Don't you start preaching to me, Prime! You act as if you're the defender of truth and justice in this war, when in reality you are no more a saint than _I_ am! How many times have you turned a blind optic to the suffering of other lifeforms just because it inconvenienced your forces, hm? How many lives, whether they be Decepticons or not, have you taken for the sake of your ideals?"

Optimus's optics narrowed slightly. "As if you have any right to lecture me about unnecessary casualties! I'll admit that I have made sacrifices in the past that haunt me to this day, but those pale in comparison to the atrocities that you and your soldiers have committed! We Autobots strive to protect the innocent from tyranny at any cost, whilst you Decepticons attack and enslave civilizations just because you believe that you're entitled to! I've seen first hand of the destruction that your forces have brought upon other worlds, and I'll be damned if I allow this world to suffer the same fate! Now, I won't tell you again: step away from the Mini-Con and human, now!"

"Oh please, Optimus." retorted Megatron, "_you're_ in no position to issue any demands to _me_. Because in case you haven't noticed, you're sorely outnumbered and outgunned, three to one!" At that moment, both Cyclonus and Demolishor aimed their weapons towards Optimus, with Megatron aligning his fusion cannon's barrel directly towards the Autobot commander's head. "I must say, Prime, I'm severely disappointed in you. Bull-headily charging in with guns a blazing; I'd expect an Autobot rookie to behave like that, not from a seasoned soldier like you, Optimus."

"Heh heh, yeah! He must have scrambled his neural net when he transwarped here! HA!" chortled Cyclonus. "I guess this means that Autobots are done for! WHOOHAHAHAhahahah-GAH!"

Any further laughter from Cyclonus was abruptly cut off, as Hot Shot leaped through a newly opened warp gate that was right behind the Decepticon, landing a powerful flying side kick to his back, knocking Cyclonus to the ground in an incoherent heap.

"Us? Done for? Keep dreaming, _laughing bot_!" said Hot Shot, before he ran towards the downed Decepticon, with the intent of continuing his assault before his enemy regained his wits. Cyclonus growled, before getting back to his feet and charging towards the yellow Autobot. The two bots met halfway, resulting in a mighty clash of metal against metal, each Cybertronian trying to push their enemy back.

"It's the Autobots! They've found us!" said Demolishor, before he about faced to fire at where he thought the third member of Prime's team would attack. But to his confusion, he found himself aiming his shoulder cannons at nothing. Whilst he continued to comprehend the predicament that he was in, he didn't notice a second warp gate opening up on his left. By the time he did, it was too late to defend himself from Red Alert's elbow strike to his mid-section. The power from the attack sent him skidding back, leaving deep trenches in the ground here his feet were dragged across the ground. Not wanting to let his opponent recover, the Autobot medic chased after Demolishor, intent on taking him out of the fight as quick as possible. Demolishor didn't see the upcoming Autobot until the very last second, barely having time to put up some defense against Red Alert.

"Argh! You, incompetent fools!" snarled Megatron. Seeing that his soldiers weren't going to be able defeat their opponents quickly, he made a desperate attempt to grab the unconscious Mini-Con and human, and warp back to the base. That plan failed when an explosive laser round impacted against his right shoulder treads, sending him flying back. Though the shot didn't do much structural damage, it served its purpose as a distraction, as he didn't see the flying round kick before it smashed into his face, further disorienting his senses. By the time his vision cleared he saw his most hated enemy charging at him with a punch. With reflexes honed by several years of combat, Megatron caught the punch with his left hand, holding it in place. He capitalized on this by throwing a right cross at Optimus, who in turn caught it with his own hand, resulting in a stalemate between the two leaders, both of which were trying to overpower the other.

"Rrg, why must you always interfere with affairs that don't concern you, Optimus?" growled Megatron, his orange optics glowing with barely restrained rage.

"As long as you continue to enslave Mini-Cons for your own selfish desires, and destroy the innocent bystanders that get in your way, then I'll always be there to stop you, Megatron!" Optimus shot back, his own yellow tinted optics shining brightly.

"Ha! That's so like you Autobots, always assuming that we destroy everything in our path just because we can. You should know by now, Prime, that we Decepticons treasure any source of power that we can find, whether it comes from a Mini-Con or a human."

"Human? What do you mean _human_? What sick scheme are you plotting now?!"

"Haven't you heard? Apparently, the humans in this world have energy levels that are almost similar to that of a Mini-Con. And that's not all, they also possess unique powers that one could only dream of wielding. That human laying on the ground over there, _he_ has the the ability to make numerous replicas of himself to the point that he can create his own personal army! With powers like that at my control, the Decepticons will finally conquer Cybertron, and then, the entire universe!"

"There's no way that I'll allow you to use an innocent human child for your demented agenda!" roared Optimus.

"Ha! You say that as if you can actually stop me, Prime!" retorted Megatron as he kneed Optimus in the torso, catching the Autobot by surprise, leaving a big enough opening for Megatron to land a devastating left cross, sending Optimus flying back. Unfortunately for the Decepticon, Optimus wasn't too badly shaken from the assault, and was able charge up an ion pulse wave***** as Megatron leveled his fusion cannon at him. Just when Megatron opened fire, Optimus released the energy gathered around his clasped hands in the form of a multicolored energy beam with large atom shapes in the center. The two attacks collided against each other, each of them struggling to overpower the other, before they detonated with a powerful explosion that sent the two Cybertronian commanders sliding further apart from each other. Much to Megatron's chagrin, the resulting shock wave had sent him further away from where the human and Mini-Con were. He was about to have another go at his most hated enemy, when his internal sensors picked up an approaching mass of energy signatures headed toward his location. Normally, he wouldn't have thought less of the newcomers and just fought them _and _the Autobots with vicious brutality. But his little encounter with blonde adolescent human left him with some troubling doubts. If a young fleshling from this world could create a massive army out of thin air, then what could a squadron of fully grown humans be capable of? Not to mention that if the approaching humans were even more troublesome to deal with than the child, his focus would be divided between destroying Prime and squashing the meddlesome insects, in which he would most likely lose his quarries _and _take heavy damage from the attack. Turning his attention back to his opponent, he had to hold back the more violent and undignified urgings that he wanted to unleash.

"Don't think that this over, Optimus. I _will_ reclaim all of the Mini-Cons, and any other source of power that I find. The next time we meet, you'll be nothing but a molten puddle of slag, and Cybertron will finally belong to the Decepticons!" declared Megatron, before he allowed the transwarp gate to pull him back to the moon base. Both Demolishor and Cyclonus followed after their leader, already scowling at their defeat. Optimus, once making sure that the Decepticons were truly gone, rushed back to where the downed boy and Mini-Con were laying, calling Red Alert to him.

The warrior-turned-medic immediately went to work, his medical tool running a diagnostic scan on the two prone figures. The readings that he was receiving weren't in need for immediate alarm, there didn't seem to be any serious damage to the Mini-Con that couldn't be repaired back at home base. But there was something off about the human. Even though the scan had detected severe internal bruising, a few cracked ribs, and some mild burns on his body, the readings indicated that the injuries were slowly healing by themselves. And if that wasn't enough, the boy seemed to be emitting an energy signature that was similar to the Mini-Con beside him, only the scans indicated that his energy reserves were at least double the levels that he'd normally seen with any Mini-Con.

"Well, the both of them aren't in any immediate danger. The Mini-Con is just in temporary stasis. The boy, however, is exhibiting some strange behavior that shouldn't be seen in humans." stated the medic.

"What do you mean by strange behavior?"

"Well for starters, the boy's body is healing itself at an accelerated rate, much faster than how normal humans recover from injuries. According to their medical studies, a recovery rate like this should be impossible."

"Is there anything else?"

"Actually, there is. Whilst searching the boy for any life-threatening injuries, my scanners detected an energy signature that is similar to that of a Mini-Con."

"A Mini-Con? Are you sure that your scan is accurate, Red Alert?" asked Optimus. The idea of a human being having characteristics similar to Mini-Con did sit well with the Autobot leader. It just sounded too much like an experiment that Megatron would have sanctioned. But then, Megatron's words of naturally occurring, super-powered humans came rushing back to his memory. There was no way that he was telling truth, right?

"I'm positive, sir. The frequency is currently in constant flux, most like due to his current physical condition, but it _is_ still there. Perhaps if the boy had time recover from his wounds, it would be more noticeable.

"Well that's time we _don't_ have. I'm picking up several large energy signatures heading to our current position, Optimus. Looks like the natives aren't too happy with us barging in on their territory." Sure enough, Hot Shot's observation proved to be legitimate, as the two older Autobots noticed that several energy spikes were indeed approaching towards them at a swift pace.

"What are your orders, sir?" asked Red Alert.

Optimus remained silent for moment, deliberating the possible options that were before him. He didn't have long, however, before things went even further south.

"Incoming!" was the only warning Optimus gave, as a large volley of small knives rained down close to their position, before the burning tags that were attached to them exploded with surprising force.

"What the slag? Since when do throwing daggers explode like grenades?"

"Hot Shot, stay focused! Those were meant to be a diversion!" barked Red Alert. Sure enough, the trio were soon peppered with more exploding knives, gigantic chunks of earth, bolts of lightning, and large dragon-shaped projectiles constituted entirely out of flame. Following the path of where the projectiles were being launched, the Cybertronians were able to determine through the limited telescopic range of their optical sensors that a large platoon of humans were quickly approaching their location. The humans were sporting green vests with pockets on the front, and headbands that each a metal plate with a spiraling pattern etched into it. In fact, it was quite similar to the one that the unconscious boy was wearing. It was also at that moment that they found out exactly _who_ were launching those projectile attacks, as even more fire, lightning, _and _earth based attacks were hurled towards them.

"Oh, come on!" hollered Hot Shot, as he narrowly dodged another dragon-shaped flame projectile that would have struck his head, only to jump to avoid a lightning bolt aimed to his knee. "Since when can humans shoot fire balls from their mouths, or throw lightning at things? Can the kids back at the base do this stuff, too?" Red Alert said nothing, as he was too busy dodging the earth dragons that acted more like homing missiles.

Optimus himself was having trouble with all three different elemental attacks. The shock of seeing Megatron's earlier statement of super-powered humans be proven true, right before him, had nearly caught him off guard. He and his soldiers were able to evade the larger attacks, but the smaller explosive knives still managed to hit them. The explosives didn't do much damage to their armor, but it still caused them mild pain and irritation. The humans seemed to have taken notice in that little fact, even with the large distance separating them, as there were more and more explosive knives hurled at the Autobots at increasing intervals, which provided the distraction that the elemental attacks needed to be more effective.

Optimus was about to order Hot Shot and Red Alert to secure the Mini-Con and reactivate the warp gate, when he saw a volley of explosive knives and a fire dragon fly past him. Remembering just who was behind him, he was about lunge to save the unconscious Mini-Con, when his optics widened once he saw what was the true target was for the attacks. Realizing he had little time to act, Prime threw himself in front of the blonde boy, kneeling down on one knee with his back facing the attackers in an attempt to shield the young human from the upcoming onslaught. The small improvised explosives were somewhat easy to weather, as they felt like weakened versions of the frag grenades that were used back on Cybertron, but it was the flame dragon that proved to be more painful. As the fiery construct slammed into his back, the commander couldn't stop the pained shout from escaping as he felt flames as hot as The Pit itself burn through his armor plating and possibly melt a few circuits. The mighty Autobot collapsed onto his hands just as the last of the flames expired, but his sight never left the young boy.

_'There's no doubt about it, that last attack wasn't meant to hit us or the Mini-Con._' he thought, the frustration he felt towards the attacking humans shifting into anger. _'They were really going to kill a child under the pretense of defending their home! But why?_'

"Optimus!"

"Optimus, sir, are you alright?"

Breaking out of his thoughts, he realized that his two subordinates were kneeling before him, concerned about his well-being. He also noticed that the humans had momentarily stopped in their attacks.

"I'm fine, but we need to retreat _now_! Red Alert, Hot Shot, take the human and the Mini-Con, and head back to base. I'll provide cover fire for the two of you."

Red Alert looked unsure. "Sir, are you sure that's wise? If these humans are capable of-"

"I gave you a direct order, soldier, and I expect you to follow it! Now go!" exclaimed Optimus, as he turned to face the still charging platoon, and opened fire with his double-barreled wrist cannons. Red Alert said nothing as he transformed, the back doors of the all terrain emergency vehicle opening up for Hot Shot to carefully place the two bodies safely inside. Once he was sure that the two secure, the doors slammed shut, and Red Alert remotely initiated the correct code algorithm to activate the return warp gate. His comrade transformed into his sports car mode next to him, and waited for the warp gate to take them back to base.

As this was going on, Optimus continued firing his cannons at the humans. Even though a small part of him wanted to outright harm the humans for their last stunt, his moral conscious managed to reign in that urge before he acted on it. Instead, he targeted the ground in front of them, his shots throwing up large chunks of dirt as they impacted. The tactic seemed to work, as their advancement was abruptly stopped, the armed humans leaping back to avoid being incinerated by the onslaught. He then moved his arms left to right in arcing motions in order to prevent any human that managed to maneuver around the initial attack from advancing even further. But the moment he heard the telltale sound of his men successfully traveling through the warp gate, Optimus quickly clasped his hands together, and launched an ion pulse wave at the ground, dragging the energy beam across the surface and creating a massive smokescreen of dirt and dust. Satisfied that none of the ninja dared to charge through the chaos, Prime launched himself through the warp gate, his entire frame disappearing in an instant.

**88888888 **

_With the Shinobi_

"Don't let them escape!" hollered the platoon's commander. Things were just getting stranger and stranger for the jonin, even by shinobi standards. After all, it wasn't everyday that they dealt with large, metallic giants. Especially since they had the habit of appearing out of thin air, and then disappearing in a matter of seconds. He had finally managed to secure the location of the intruders, thanks to Ko Hyuga and his Byakugan. But the tension and anxiety came back, twice as strong, when after a few minutes of traveling, Ko announced that there were now _six _metal giants at their destination. _**SIX**_! As if one wasn't bad enough! He was seriously considering looking for a good psychiatrist after this mission.

Yet for a brief moment, things started to look up for the commander when Ko reported that three of the giants suddenly disappeared, which halved the amount of possible hostiles that the platoon had to deal with. Sure, their massive size was disheartening, and they had yet to determine what these intruders were capable of, but it was still much better than having to face _six _of them. When they were close enough to get a clear visual of the intruders, as well as the Uzumaki kid, the commander gave the order to attack. Since they still had a great distance to travel, he ordered the platoon to target the giants, and _only_ the giants, using long-ranged ninjutsu as well as kunai padded with heavy duty explosive tags. He was amazed to see that the assault was a success; the attacks themselves didn't do any significant damage to the invaders, yet they seemed to only focus on dodging the projectiles instead of counterattacking. This not only boosted the morale of the entire platoon, it also gave the commander the slimmest hope that he wasn't going to face another catastrophe similar to that of the Nine-Tailed-Fox Demon.

But then, it all went to hell in a matter of seconds. One second the entire platoon was surging forward, continuing their attacks on the metallic intruder, the next, two of his chunin launched a volley of explosive note-laden-kunai and a high powered Fire Dragon Flame Bullet at the unconscious Uzumaki kid! His shouts for them to stand down did no good, as the attacks were already halfway from striking down their target. While the commander himself did not see the young boy as the beast that had killed so many of his comrades, he knew that a fair number of his subordinates did. He had hoped that none of them would have decided to take advantage of Uzumaki's defenseless state, especially after he had given them explicit orders that forbade them on doing so. But, alas, two members of the platoon were willing to risk whatever punishment awaited them from him and the Hokage. All he could do now was watch helplessly as an innocent child was attacked for something that wasn't his fault.

That is until one of the intruders, the one with red and blue armor, shielded the boy from the incoming attacks with its own body. Seeing the large creature's selfless act, as well as hearing its pained cry, was enough to freeze the entire platoon in shock. No one had expected such altruism from something so...alien. The shock didn't last long, as the platoon renewed their charge towards the three towering titans. The giant that was struck, however, had other plans. Like a vicious tiger provoked by some foolish human, the intruder about faced and aimed what looked like wrist-mounted pipes at them. It was only through Ko's warning that they managed to evade the sudden salvo of energy rounds that crashed down to where they once stood, and exploded in large plume of fire that sent dirt flying into the air. The commander didn't need a hands-on demonstration to figure out that those rounds had enough power to kill a shinobi if they struck their target dead on. The platoon tried to push forwards, but the giant always seemed to know where they would go and managed to drive them back with its cannons. Hundreds of possible strategies went through his head on how to get past this obstacle, when all of the sudden the giant clasped its hands together, and fired a multicolored energy beam at them, dragging it across the ground in a line, obscuring everyone's vision with a massive cloud of dirt and dust. Realizing that the attack was meant for a distraction, the commander gave the order for the platoon to charge forward, only to be met with the sight of an empty field that was scarred by the jutsus that missed their targets.

The entire platoon stared disbelievingly at what was once a battlefield for titans. A few of the ninja's jaws were hanging open from pure shock. There was just no way that the giants could have disappeared so quickly!

"Wha...What the fuck?" declared one shinobi.

"They...they just disappeared, without a trace!" exclaimed Ko, his Byakugan still active in an attempt to try to see through any genjutsu the enemy could have been hiding behind.

"What were those things, some kind of weird summons?"

"Don't be daft, since when do summons look like they're completely made of metal?"

"But they vanished into thin air, just like any summon does!" interjected a kunoichi. "What else could they be?"

"I say they were all demons!" shouted another shinobi.

"Why would demons invade our village out of the blue?"

"Maybe they were reacting to a distress call. I mean, didn't you see how it protected that other d-"

"ENOUGH!", bellowed the commander, immediately cutting off that particular shinobi before he would have been forced to kill him for breaking the Third's law. "It doesn't matter what those creatures were, whether they were summons or demons. What we should be more concerned about is how creatures of that size and power were able to infiltrate our village without so much as tripping an alarm, and then vanish into thin air!" That got all of other shinobi deathly silent, as the cold hard facts and their drastic repercussions began to settle in.

"So instead of thinking up asinine theories, let's process the scene and search for genuine clues as to what these things are, and where they came from. Ko, you take Divisions 1 and 2 to the battlefield, look for armor fragments, shell casings, anything that looks like they can shed more light on our intruders. Division 3, you're on reconnaissance; scout ahead as far as border just to make sure that our intruders aren't merely licking their wounds and biding their time for a second assault. Division 4, you are to report back to the Hokage, and alert him of the situation at hand, _except for Soun and Akane_. I would like to speak to the both of you on an important _issue_. The rest of you, move out!" The other shinobi vanished in a burst of speed, leaving the head commander with the two aforementioned shinobi alone in the clearing.

The commander sighed as he stared down the father-daughter duo before him. Soun was a tall man that stretched to almost six feet, with a lean build that most shinobi had. His long black hair was left free behind his back while his handle bar mustache was trimmed neatly, which was an oddity in itself since very few shinobi opted to grow facial hair in that specific area. He was adorned n the standard blue shinobi undershirt and pants, the shirt being covered by the standard green flak vest that most jonin and chunin wore. His daughter, Akane, came up to about an inch below his shoulder, and had her blue hair styled in a short bob cut. She, too, wore the standard shinobi garb, complete with a flak vest similar to her father's, which somewhat contorted around her feminine figure.

Both of them were accomplished chunin that specialized in ninjutsu and their own unique taijutsu style that had been in their family for years. Unfortunately, after the incident with the Nine-Tailed-Fox, the duo had undergone a drastic change in their personalities as they were amongst the droves of ninja that were baying for the young Uzumaki's blood so that they could "finish what the Fourth started". Even after the Third passed his law forbidding anyone from speaking about the incident, as well as telling the younger generation or Uzumaki himself about his condition, they led petitions to rescind the law and to have the kid executed for the demon's crimes. Overall, the commander had lost a lot of respect for the two. Even though he treated the young kid with indifference, he knew the difference between a kunai and its storage scroll. But if there was one thing that he hated above traitors and overzealous people, it was child murderers.

"So, would either of you like come forward and explain yourselves?" said the commander. The father and daughter remained silent as they continued to stand at attention. "Really? You're going to be like this? You're not even going to attempt to take responsibility for disobeying my direct orders?"

"With all due respect, Commander Taro, we acted within the orders you gave us." said Soun, his tone even, and his face expressionless.

"Is that so?" asked Taro, in faux surprise. "Are you saying that _I_ explicitly ordered you to blatantly attack the unconscious civilian that was in close proximity to the intruders?"

If Soun was disturbed by Taro's question, he managed to hide his discomfort very well. "How do you know that it was _us _thatattacked the civilian in question, commander? It could have been anyone from the pl-"

"Cut the bullshit, Soun!" interjected Taro. "I saw you with my own eyes; both you and your daughter deliberately targeting the Uzumaki kid whilst everyone else was focused on attacking the intruders, the real threats to our village!"

"Hunh, says you." Akane muttered quietly to herself.

"What was that, _chunin_?" Apparently, she wasn't quiet enough.

Akane glared at Taro, having finally lost her patience. She was about to let her temper get the better of her, when her father stepped in to save her from doing something stupid. "I believe that what my daughter is trying to say, commander," said Soun, "is that we were attempting to take care of all threats to our village, both external and internal."

"_Both external and internal_? Explain yourself, Soun." Taro's voice took on a deadly tone, indicating that the two were treading on thin ice.

"Well, you're aware of the...boy's...condition, aren't you?" Soun sounded like he had wanted to say something else, but had forced himself to remain civil.

"Yes, yes, I am. I was there when the fox demon emerged, and when the Third Hokage explained Uzumaki's role in keeping the beast at bay. Where are you going with this?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? The Third may have publicly made that useless law in order to prevent anarchists creating hysteria and chaos amongst the civilians, but it was just an act. He was subtly sending his shinobi the order to complete the Fourth's work." blurted Akane.

Taro's eyes narrowed as he sneered at the kunoichi. "I don't whether to be disgusted or ashamed at the thought that demented sick individuals such as you two managed to be deemed acceptable as shinobi. Your foolish vendetta not only broke one our village's most heavily-enforced laws, it also jeopardized the entire platoon's safety when the red and blue giant responded to your attacks!"

"Then that should prove that the intruders are demons then, since they protected-"

"Shut your damn mouths! I don't want to hear another word out either of you! The both of you are disgraces to the very headbands that you wear!"

"Us? Disgraces? That's rich, coming from someone that sympathizes with that d-"

"Do not test my patience, _chunin Akane_! You and your father are already facing the charges of insubordination and attempted murder, don't make things harder for you two by adding treason to your crimes!" interjected Taro, angrily.

"Treason? _TREASON_?! If there's anyone guilty of committing treason, it's that senile old fool that calls himself Third Hokage!" shouted Soun, his outburst shocking not only Taro, but his own daughter as well.

"Father, please, d-"

"Don't interrupt me, daughter, you know it as well as I do that the Third has committed the most heinous crime imaginable! When that retched beast was about to attack our village, we lost thousands upon thousands of our comrades trying to keep that thing at bay until the Fourth Hokage arrived! And when the Fourth sacrificed himself to weaken the damned fox to where we can finally end its wretched existence once and for all, that wrinkly bastard passed a law decreeing that no harm shall befall on it, and forbade us from warning any of the younger citizens of the danger under the threat of death! What kind of spineless, decrepit fool ignores the deaths of his subordinates, _and_ the suffering of the deceased's families, just so that he can his pet fox de-"

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and he is a hero beyond comparison for shouldering a burden that no man could ever shoulder, including you _Soun_!" boomed a voice, teeming with authority. Turning to face the voice's owner, Soun and Akane flinched when they saw none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi standing before them. Behind the wizened leader stood a small team consisting of several jonin, both normal and special ranked. The duo could recognize a few of them by appearance, such as Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, and Anko Mitarashi. Suddenly, Soun didn't feel so confident in standing up for his beliefs, especially when his supreme commander had managed to listen in on his comments directed towards the old veteran.

"L-Lord Hokage, I can explain, y-"

"Do not insult my intelligence with your pitiful excuses, Soun. You've always been a nuisance, with your constant antagonistic streak. I had thought that you would have gotten over your deluded vendetta over time, but that appears to have been a gross misjudgment on my part, if your recent behavior is any indication."

"But, my lord," pleaded Soun, "I beg of you to please see sense. We can't let the beast continue to regain its strength. If we are to have any peace at mind we-"

"That is enough, Soun! It is bad enough that you've used an innocent human being as a scapegoat for your hatred of the fox demon, but the fact that you have manipulated your own daughter into accepting your shameful bigotry shows just how far you have fallen!"

"You take that back, right now!" yelled Akane, speaking up for the first time since the Hokage's arrival. "My father is a sincere and honorable man. He didn't need to _brainwash_ me because I already knew the truth. So stop trying to sully other people's reputation just so that you c-" The girl's word caught in her throat as a sudden concentrated burst of Killer Intent washed over the duo, making them realize that even though he was getting on in years, the Third Hokage was still a force to be reckoned with.

"Anko, Asuma, please escort chunins Soun and Akane back to the village, I think that a visit with Ibiki is in order for these two. After which, three weeks suspension from active service and mandatory therapeutic sessions with Inoichi will most likely help these two improve their attitudes on certain _situations_."

"What?! That's not fair! Y-"

"Would you and your father prefer a dishonorable discharge and a prison sentence? No? Then don't you dare complain about the severity of your punishment! Now return to the village immediately, before I decide to throw the both of you in prison!" The two chunin were aghast at how violently the elderly leader reacted, and decided that it would be best if they didn't test their luck any further. But that didn't stop Soun from shooting Hiruzen a scathing glare right before he and his daughter sped off back to the village, with Anko and Asuma tailing behind them. The old kage just sighed at what would most likely be another fiasco that he would have to deal with, _on top _of the one he had originally went to investigate personally. Akane and Soun were both well known shinobi for creating their own style of taijutsu, and their high success rate when it came to missions. It saddened him to see such promising ninja act so irrationally. But, he would deal with _that _situation when the time came, there were more important matters currently at hand.

"Status report, Commander Taro." said Sarutobi, addressing the commander for the first time since the drama began.

**88888888 **

_Leaf Village, Unknown Underground Tunnel_

The sounds of calm, measured footsteps, as well as the clunks of a wooden cane, echoed throughout the man-made cavern. Lit torches lined the walls, casting the tunnels in an eerie glow. These conditions would be enough to convince any normal person not to venture down the corridor, but this was not the case for one man. The man had lived through many atrocities, and as such, wasn't easily put off by the depressing and dreary atmosphere. No, unlike the fools that gallivanted about on the surface, exposing themselves and their weaknesses to friend and foe alike, _he_ cautiously lurked within the darkness of the shadows, using it to his advantage to conceal his every move as he hunted for anything that he could use to his advantage. Many would label this behavior as villainous, and to some extent downright treasonous, but he didn't care. He had vowed that he would protect his home village through any means necessary. He would make sure that the Leaf Village prospered, and would be seen as the most superior hidden village in all of the Elemental Nations, no matter how many people had to be sacrificed for the greater good.

The man made a sharp left turn to a doorway, which lead into a private study that contained a desk and a fully laden bookshelf. The area near the desk was illuminated by lit candles, leaving the remaining half of the room encased in darkness. Undeterred, the man made his way to his desk, taking a seat in the chair provided, before he stared off into the darkness.

"Report." was the short command that he uttered. Not a moment later, a shinobi wearing a white animal-themed mask, a black cloak, and armed with a short tanto blade, emerged from the shadows, as if he were a part of them. The mysterious shinobi approached the seated man, and presented him with a large sealed manilla envelope.

"My lord, this is all of the data that we managed to recover from the surveillance cameras situated at Omega Outpost #31 before the entire area was exposed, and the damage report for the entire outpost. We've had our specialists analyze what we recorded, and managed to create a few profile images of what exactly attacked our village." the newcomer said in a monotone voice. The man just accepted the envelope, idly examining it as if it were a unique trinket.

"And what of the scouting team? Have they returned to base?" asked the man, his attention still on the envelope.

"Unfortunately, we believe that they have been terminated. Reports from the tracking station say that their beacon seals have faded from the active operatives roster." The man's hand paused inches away from touching the envelope. This was not good news at all. While he was allowed to retain the operatives he had trained as a sort of personal guard, his organization was supposed to have officially been disbanded for good. If those operatives had been killed in action, then he needed to act fast.

"Did their tracers list their coordinates before they vanished?" The masked man merely nodded. "Send in a salvage team to those coordinates and retrieve their bodies. We don't want anyone loyal to the Third to find them, and implicate us of our actions."

"It shall be done, my lord." And with that, the masked shinobi stepped backwards into the shadows, vanishing completely within the darkness. Now alone in his quarters, the man wasted no time in ripping open the sealed envelope and revealing its contents. Scattered across the desk was a black disk that undoubtedly contained surveillance footage, a scroll detailing the extensive property damage done to the outpost, and a few enlarged, enhanced images of the intruder. He placed the disk and scroll aside to look at some other time, and focused on the images sprawled across his desk, with three images quickly catching his interest. The first one depicted the intruder's heavily armored vehicular form shooting its cannons at the outpost's defenses. The second one showed its bipedal form, the background of the building acting as a makeshift scale that gauged the giant's actual size. The third and final one was a close up of the behemoth's head and torso, giving the man a detailed image of the giant's visage, as well as the insignia that adorned its chest. Just from a quick glance, he could see that this being was not a construct from any rival shinobi village, going by its pristine appearance. No engineer that his spies knew about could craft something as complex as this; he would have been alerted ahead of time if such a project was in the works.

"Just what _are_ you, and where did you come from?" asked the man aloud. "Well, it doesn't matter, I will find out sooner or later. You may have taken us by surprise this day, but we will be prepared the next time you decide to invade us. Everyone may think that we are no more, but Leaf's Foundation will always be there to prevent our village from collapsing. We will learn your secrets, and then use them to make Leaf even greater than before. And through my contributions, I will be named Hokage, as I should have been so many years ago; I, Danzō Shimura, swear this.

**88888888 **

_Autobot Headquarters, Medical Ward_

"How are the two patients, Red Alert?" asked Optimus, as he and the medic stood over the hydraulic lift that was used for medical operations. It was currently in its lowered position, with both human and Mini-Con laying on top of it. The moment that the three Autobots arrived, Red Alert immediately rushed the two into the ER, much to the confusion of the children. Optimus had hastily told Hot Shot to stall the three adolescents until he had gotten a clearer understanding of the situation the two newcomers were in. Unfortunately, the young Autobot was caught flat-footed, so to speak, and didn't know just what to say to the young humans without raising suspicion. And going by Hot Shot's first question of whether or not they knew any humans that could spit fire or throw lightning as a form of an offensive attack, the commander had a feeling that it would only be a matter of time before the kids marched into the ward looking for answers.

"Well, for the Mini-Con's sake, its injuries aren't life threatening. A brief period in the Cryogenic Regeneration Chamber managed to repair all of the damage that it suffered. All that's left to do is wait until its central processor restarts. It's the human that I'm more worried about. Since his body is entirely organic, using the chamber is obviously out of the question since the process would do more harm to him than good. But upon further analysis, it appears that he won't be needing any medical assistance at all."

"I don't understand. Before we retreated back to base, you said that even though the boy's body was healing at a slightly faster pace than normal humans, he would still need additional medical treatment. Now, you're saying that he doesn't need it. How is it possible for any human to have such a rapid healing factor?"

"I'm just as bewildered as you are, sir. But I do have a theory that the child's unusual energy signatures may have something to do with his fast recovery."

"Energy signatures?"

"Yes, sir. Once I arrived back, I immediately ran a diagnostics program on the boy, figuring that he would be the most injured of the two patients. And if my scanners are functioning correctly, the child is exhibiting _two _distinct energy readings. Both of them share some characteristics similar to the Mini-Cons that are present in the base, yet, at the same time, are completely different phenomenons all together. The first readings indicate a slow, but constant flow of energy circulating throughout the boy's body. This energy is in a surprisingly large quantity for such a young creature, and is similar to the readings that a Mini-Con gives off once it combines to a larger Cybertronian. The second energy reading, however, has me a little concerned. It seems to be more centered around the boy's navel area, and its reserves completely dwarf the first energy trace. Not only that, but it bears a striking resemblance to raw, unrefined energon deposits, only more more severe and unstable." explained the medic.

"That explains why Megatron was so determined to take the boy along with the Mini-Con. I still can't believe his claims of humans capable of such destructive abilities without the aid of firearms were true. If I hadn't seen it with my own optics, I would have merely passed off Megatron's words as one of his mad delusions." added Optimus, as his hand gently brushed up against the damaged area on his back. It was still a shock to the Prime at how destructive those attacks were.

"Yes, and if this boy is an example of what those warriors are like before they mature, then I wouldn't want to return to that particular world any time soon. But I don't think we'll have a choice in the matter, considering what was brought along with the boy." said Red Alert, as he gestured to the Mini-Con on the table, and then showed Optimus something he didn't expect to see.

"A Mini-Con panel?! Where did you find that one?" he asked, as he stared at the object in Red Alert's hand.

"I found it in the boy's jacket. It's most likely the original reason why Megatron was pursuing the boy so relentlessly. But, this also posses a very serious situation for us. If these two Mini-Cons came from this unknown world, then there's no telling just how many more Min-Cons are scattered throughout that area. Add to the fact that this world is inhabited by super-powered humans, I fear that the Decepticons will be encouraged to revisit that destination a lot more often."

"What I don't understand is how there can be Mini-Cons hidden in some location that our planetary sensors couldn't pick up until now. We've sent out probes all across this planet, and they've never sent back data on any location like the one we've just been to; it's as if we were in an entirely different world all together. But how is that even possible? Canthis sort of thing even happen, or have we just happened across an isolated human settlement that has been kept itself hidden from modern society?"

"Although it does sound pretty farfetched, I wouldn't dismiss such an explanation just yet. Keep in mind, sir, that when we built the _Exodus _to evacuate the Mini-Cons from Cybertron, we had the ship equipped with the most advanced transwarp systems we had at the time, including technology that was still in its early experimental stages. Now this is just going by what we know so far, but I believe that combined with the damage that the ship sustained from the surprise Decepticon ambush, the journey through the warp gate, and then its final crash landing on the Earth and its moon may have caused more than just the scattering of the stasis panels across the planet. For all we know, the transwarp system could have malfunctioned during the planetary impact, and somehow opened a warp gate to a completely different dimension that exists independently from the one we're currently occupying. But like I said, this is only just a hypothesis, supported by the theory of infinite parallel universes. We'll most likely get more concrete answers from either the boy or the Mini-Con, once they regain consciousness."

"Let's just hope they wake up soon." sighed Optimus, his gaze lingering on the lift. Suddenly, the automatic door opened, drawing the two Autobots' attention to the newcomers. If they had just continued to watch the occupied lift for a second longer, however, they would have seen the Mini-Con's optics flicker briefly.

"Hey, Optimus, Red Alert, is it true that you guys fought against superheroes?" Carlos asked the minute he stepped in the room, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Carlos, you can't just barge in here without asking permission first!" exclaimed Alexis, as she ran after her friend, followed closely by Rad and the Street Action Mini-Con Team. Hot Shot ran in shortly after, looking quite embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Optimus," he began, " but the kids really wanted to know what had happened on our latest mission. And they especially didn't like being kept in the dark when Mini-Cons are involved. I tried to explain the situation as best as I could, but that only seemed to make things worse, and then it-"

"It's alright, Hot Shot." interrupted Optimus. "I was planning on telling the children everything anyways, after I made sure that our two guests weren't in any immediate danger."

"Optimus, we're really sorry if we-WHOA! Optimus, what happened to your back?!" exclaimed Rad, as he finally noticed the burn and blast damage that scarred the normally bright red plating on the Autobot's back. His exclamation only served to alert both Alexis and Carlos of the injury as well. Optimus mentally berated himself for not hiding his injuries better so he wouldn't upset the three humans. Perhaps it would have been more tactful if he had the damage repaired a lot earlier.

"Oh my God, Optimus, are you alright?" asked Alexis, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"Did those Decepti-creeps do that to you?!" growled Carlos.

"It's alright, you three, I'm fine." assured the Prime. "The injury stings a little bit, but it's nothing too serious. But as for your question, Carlos, no, it wasn't the Decepticons this time. I received this wound from the locals. Apparently, they're quite territorial."

"Locals? Wait a minute, Hot Shot asked us earlier if humans could use fire and lightning attacks without the use of technology. Are you saying that humans managed to drive you three off without machine guns or missiles?" asked Carlos, his excitement steadily bubbling over.

Having some experience with the boy's enthusiasm, Optimus saw no harm in answering his question. "Yes, Carlos, before we retreated, we were ambushed by humans that could utilize energy-based attacks that were dependent on focused fire, earth, and lightning." answered Optimus.

"Can't say that I've ever heard of anything like that before, except in comic books." murmured Rad. "Did these humans have any noticeable characteristics? Like, did they use any distinctive weaponry, or did they wear some kind of uniform? That might give us a clue as to just who you encountered."

"And whether or not they pose a threat to your cover." added Alexis.

"Well," began Red Alert, "from what we saw from the battalion that attacked us, the group was comprised of both adult male and female humans. Aside from their energy attacks, they used small throwing knives in conjunction with explosives that seemed to be disguised as small slips of paper. As for their attire, while they differed slightly from person to person, a majority of the warriors wore green utility vests. Additionally, they were all wearing a cloth headband that had metal plate attached to it. The plate itself had some sort of symbol engraved into it.

"It kind of looks like the one that kid is wearing." said Hot Shot, pointing to the boy laying on the lift, more specifically the headband that adorned his head. The kids and their Mini-Con partners flocked to the lift, each of them wanting to get a glimpse.

"Huh. It looks like some sort of spiraling leaf." stated Carlos, before his eyes widened with sudden recognition. "Hold on just a second, throwing knives, paper bombs, headbands? You guys fought against ninja! No, scratch that, super-powered ninjas! That's got to be the only explanation!"

"Ninjas? Really, Carlos?" asked Rad, his expression non-pulsed, having heard his friend's ramblings about "super ninja" several times before.

"Aw, come on, Rad, don't give me that look!"

"Actually, Carlos isn't too far off from describing our attackers. Even though there are some vast differences between the ninja that your historical records depict, and the battalion that we encountered, the similarities were uncanny to say the least."

"HA! I knew it!" exclaimed Carlos, triumphantly.

"Okay, so you three were attacked by ninjas. But if that's the case, then why did you bring one of _them_ back to the base? He could be a scout sent in by the enemy to infiltrate our defenses, and look for any weaknesses that his people can exploit."

"I kind of find that hard to believe Alexis, unless you count being hounded by Megatron and then attacked by your own kind as some sort of elaborate cover story." countered Hot Shot.

That left Alexis speechless, her counter that she had prepared dying in her throat. Rad and Carlos looked aghast as well, not sure what to make of the fact that someone as old as they were was nearly killed.

"Why...why would someone try to kill a kid?" Rad thought aloud.

"That's what we were hoping to find out, once the boy wakes up." answered Red Alert.

Rad simply nodded, opting to say nothing as he was still unsure on how he felt about the situation that laid before him. That is, until he saw Carlos slowly making his way towards the mysterious kid.

"Hey, Carlos, what do you think you're doing?!" demanded Rad, simultaneously snapping Alexis out of her stupor. But before she could reprimand the Hispanic adolescent, Carlos spoke up again.

"Relax, Rad. I'm just looking to see if this dude's got any I.D. on him or something. That way, we'd at least know the guy's name. And if I happen across any ninja weapons on his person, I'll just hang onto them until he wakes up, since Alexis is _so certain_ that this guy's dangerous." But as Carlos continued to slowly make his way towards the blonde, he never thought to pay more attention to the Mini-Con that was laying beside the boy, and thus didn't notice the small robot's optics flicker on.

**88888888**

It all happened so fast; one minute Carlos was reaching towards the blonde boy, the next he was launched back as something hard slammed into his solar plexus at an unimaginable speed. The kid landed harshly on his back, gasping and coughing from having the air forcibly knocked out of his lungs. But as he managed to get his breathing back to normal, he was unpleasantly surprised with the sight that was before him. There, standing in front of the downed kid, was the Mini-Con that was originally laying beside him. Since it was previously laying down on the lift, he had thought that it was in the same state as the boy. He was now regretting not paying more attention to it, because unlike Grindor, Carlos could tell that this new Mini-Con was more suited for combat. And, from its posture, it was _not _in a pleasant mood.

"_I don't know how you are, put if you think that I'm just going to let you kick my friend when he's down, then you've got another thing coming!_" yelled the small robot. It reached behind its back, where a grip, trigger guard, and trigger folded out of the middle of the Mini-Con's back. A long, rectangular section jettisoned from the middle of its back, the grip landing into its hand. With a sudden jerk, the small robot leveled the newly revealed assault rifle at Carlos' head, the boy quivering in fear as he heard the weapon hum to life, and saw its barrel glowing with a prepared shot.

The sudden action left everyone speechless, that is, except for the Street Action Team. The moment they saw that the newest Mini-Con was holding Carlos at gun point, they leaped into the air, combining into Perceptor whilst in mid-air, and landed in front of the weapon-wielding jet-bot, assuming a fighting stance, protectively shielding the human. Not wanting the situation to degrade into a fight to the death, Rad and Alexis ran to the middle of the upcoming battlefield in attempt to stop the would-be combatants.

"Wait, stop, please! You two don't need to fight each other, we're all on the same side here!" pleaded Alexis, trying to calm Perceptor.

"This is all just one big misunderstanding! If we all just take a second to calm down and talk to each other, we can avoid this conflict all together!" added Rad, standing in front of the Mini-Con armed with the gun. He didn't know what made him think that standing in front of the potentially homicidal Mini-Con was a good idea, as the small bot didn't look like it was going to listen to him.

"Everyone, please settle down. There's no need for violence." boomed a voice from above the scene. _That_ seemed to snap the miniature robot out of its trance, its head swiveling to where it heard the voice, only to gape at just who the voice's owner was.

"_O-O-Optimus Prime?!_"

"There is nothing for you to worry about, little one. Both you and your friend are safe; no harm shall fall upon either of you." continued the Prime, soothingly. The Mini-Con didn't say anything, instead opting to stare back in Carlos' general direction. "I assure you that the human child meant no ill will towards your friend, he was just curious as to where the two of you came from. I'm sure that you have a few questions that you want answered, but we need to address this situation calmly if any progress is to be made. Now, if you would kindly lower your weapon, we can answer each others questions, peacefully." he added.

The Mini-Con remained still, it's gaze still locked onto Carlos. Nobody dared to move, in fear in causing a horrendous chain of violent events. The silence was becoming increasingly unbearable, until the Mini-Con finally eased its posture, and replaced its rifle on its back. Seeing that the newcomer had stood down, Perceptor disengaged and transformed back to his separate Mini-Con components, with Grindor immediately rushing to Carlos' side. Rad backed away from the Mini-Con, opting to give it more space so as not to make it fell cornered.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?" Prime continued.

The Mini-Con stood to face Optimus, it posture similar to that of a soldier standing at attention. "_Agent Spitfire, last surviving member of the Special Operatives Team._" said the Mini-Con. High Wire, Grindor, and Sureshock all seemed taken aback from the newcomer's introduction, which the human children were quick to take notice of.

Hey, what's wrong, Sureshock? Did you know him back on Cybertron?" asked Alexis.

"_Not personally, but we have heard of his team's exploits when we were still fighting in the Great War._" was the scooter Mini-Con's reply.

"_The Special Operatives Team was famous for completing missions that were considered to be suicidal and had no chance of success. In a way, they were like the Autobots' Wreckers, only smaller and a higher chance of survival. But things took a turn for the worst when they and three other Mini-Con teams w-_"

"_High Wire!_" exclaimed Grindor, cutting off what the dirt bike Mini-Con was about to say. High Wire looked at Grindor, who merely shook his head. The two said nothing as they stared at each other, yet High Wire nodded his head, as if to say that he understood the underlying message that Grindor was trying to tell him. A quick glace towards Spitfire, and his trembling fists, was all High Wire needed to see that he nearly crossed onto matters that were personal to Spitfire.

"_Sorry, what I meant to say was, until one of their missions was compromised, and the two original Special Ops members were destroyed in the line of duty._" High Wire finished, solemnly_. _

"_We knew that an Autobot recon team managed to recover you and the others, but we never heard word of you returning to the front lines._" continued Grindor."_Some of us believed that you spark had extinguished in the O.R.; it was as if you had simply vanished. If you don't mind me asking, just what happened to you? You were once considered to be one of our most proficient warriors, and your disappearance really hurt the morale amongst us Mini-Cons._"

Spitfire inwardly grimaced, not knowing that his inaction since that failed mission had such a negative impact on his race. It made him even more ashamed of his acrophobia than ever before; he didn't even know how to begin explaining his crippling fear of heights without sounding pathetic. Luckily, the sound of groaning came from behind him before he could say anything. Spitfire rushed back to where the prone boy was laying, kneeling down at his side as the human began to stir.

"Uurrgh, what...what the hell happened?" murmured the blonde, as he slowly tried to sit up, with Spitfire gently assisting him. The mini jet bot had one of his hands covering the boy's still closed eyes. "Last thing I remember was...Megatron!" The boy tried to jump to his feet, but Spitfire held him down, making the human's anxiety even worse.

"_It's alright, Naruto, we're safe now._" Spitfire said, soothingly.

The now-named Naruto immediately stopped moving. "Spitfire? Where are we, and why are you covering up my eyes?", he asked.

"_We were lucky enough to be rescued from Megatron's forces whilst we were both unconscious. The 'Cons are long gone, you have nothing to worry about, we're currently at the Autobots' home base._"

"What? Autobots? There are _more _robots like Claw Head and his goons?"

"HEY! The Autobots are nothing like those Decepti-creeps!" shouted Carlos.

"Wait a minute, was that another human? Are these Autobots abducting human kids for science experiments?! How is that any different than those Decepticons, Spitfire?!"

"_No! No, these kids aren't being kept hear against their will! And if they are, then these bots have a lot of explaining to do!"_ Spitfire sent Carlos a glare for unintentionally making Naruto's panic worsen.

"I assure you, young man, that you are not in any danger, and that no one is being kept here against their will. We mean you no harm." said Optimus, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Oh great, who is that?!" shouted Naruto.

"_That's Optimus Prime, the commander of the Autobots. He's...alright, this is getting ridiculous. Naruto, I'm going to uncover your eyes, but I need you to promise me that you won't have a panic attack. It's very important that you remain calm, can you do that for me?_"

"Uh, yeah, sure. So long as I can see with my own eyes again." said Naruto, still unsure as how to approach his current situation. Having his eyes covered after waking from unconsciousness, and then finding out that he was in some environment he wasn't familiar with, was not a welcoming sensation. So when he felt the cool sensation of Spitfire's hand leave his face, Naruto's eyes immediately shot open to take in as much as his surroundings as he could. The sudden influx of bright light blinded him momentarily, but as his vision refocused, he was met with a sight the young shinobi never expected to see. Standing behind Spitfire were three human civilian children (two boys and one girl) as well as three more robots that were the same size as the small jet bot. Whilst Naruto had become somewhat used to seeing extraterrestrials in the form of his Mini-Con friend, it was still a surprise to see more of Spitfire's kind in person.

But when Naruto gazed upon the three hulking giants that stood further back, he involuntarily stepped back in shock. There was one that was predominately yellow and burnt orange, with gray forearms and fists, a dark gray visor that rested on its head, and strange markings that ran underneath its blue eyes. Another one had blue limbs, predominately white armor with red stripes, a red cylindrical device in place of its left hand, and a red visor in place of its eyes. But it was the giant in between the other two that really caught Naruto's attention. It stood a good foot taller than the other giants, its larger frame giving off an air of strength and wisdom. The red and blue armor that composed most of its body was full of scuffs and scratches that were most likely from countless battles. The blue head had two big antennae-shaped objects jutting behind him, and a silver faceplate that covered its mouth. Its glowing yellow eyes had a hypnotic quality to them as they seemed to draw Naruto into them, yet they held no malice like Megatron's did.

"Alright, I think some introductions are in order. And possibly an explanation if that's not too much trouble." said Naruto, as he nervously got up on his feet, glancing from one giant robot to the next.

"My name is Optimus Prime." said the red and blue giant. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."

"But we prefer the term _Autobots_, for short." added the giant with the red visor. "But, we have been called _Transformers_ as well.

"To my left, is Red Alert, our medical officer." said Optimus, as he gestured to the robot with the missing hand and white armor. Red Alert just gave the boy a polite nod. "And to my right is Hot Shot, one of the many seasoned soldiers that make up the Autobot army."

"Hey. How's it going?" greeted Hot Shot, with a short wave.

"So then, you're the leader of this Autobot army, right?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, that's correct."

Naruto then turned to other humans in the room. "And if this is a military base, then why are there civilians involved in your operations, Optimus?"

"Hey, who do you think you are, calling us civilians?! We've been helping the Autobots and Mini-Cons longer than you have!" shouted Carlos. Rad and Alexis stood ready to intervene should their friend do anything rash.

"While we normally don't allow neutral species to become involved in Cybertronian matters, especially one as severe as the Great War, but it was thanks to Rad, Carlos, and Alexis that the first three Mini-Cons were kept safe from the Decepticons long enough for us to intervene."

"What exactly is this _Great War_ ? And why did you decide to bring the Elemental Nations into it?" demanded Naruto, his trepidation increasing when he saw the three Autobots exchange glances with each other.

"It's...kind of a long story, kid." said Hot Shot.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, and I've got plenty of time on my hands. So why not try me?"

Optimus stepped forward and raised the hydraulic lift until the humans and Mini-Cons were at his eye level. "Our home planet, Cybertron, was once a power empire, peaceful and just. But like all empires, our government soon fell prey to greed and corruption, and soon a massive gap between our planet's social classes emerged. As living conditions for the commonwealth continued to deteriorate, more and more Cybertronians began to riot against the government. At first, they were disorganized, and were easily dealt with the government's Elite Guard. But all of that changed, when Megatron made himself known."

"Megatron?" asked Naruto.

"Once a former energon miner in one of Cybertron's many mines, Megatron became notorious as a gladiator in the underground pit fights that were held in the city-state, Kaon. As Megatron's popularity grew with each victory, he began to attract the attention of several Cybertronians that shared his resentment for the corruption that ran rampant throughout the planet. Megatron used this to his advantage to amass a large army, loyal only to him and ideals. At first, Megatron wanted to use this large following to change Cybertron for the better, to make sure that each Cybertronian was treated equally. But like Cybertron, Megatron too became corrupt through the passage time. Gone was the advocate for a free and equal society, and in his place was a cruel, power-hungry, sadistic tyrant who was dead set on conquering Cybertron, and then the entire universe. His personal army, the Decepticons, first made their presence known when they attacked and killed several members of the Senate. After which, Megatron led his followers on a violent and bloody rampage, taking over several city-states to use as strongholds for their rapidly growing army. In response to Megatron's campaign, we Autobots banded together and fought back against the Decepticons, thus starting the Great War.

"The war was an arduous one, with the rate of casualties for both sides climbing to astronomical levels with each battle. The fighting was so severe, that Cybertron itself was literally torn in half. With the planet literally divided into two separate territories, the fighting began to stagnate, to the point were both armies entered a stalemate that could not be broken. It was only with the discovery of the Mini-Cons that the magnitude of the warincreased. These smaller Transformers had the ability to combine with full-sized Cybertronians, resulting in an augmentation in their strength, speed, or even unlocking new weapons that have been hidden within our own bodies; weapons that we would normally be unable to access."

"Wait, wait, wait, why would you need a Mini-Con to use these weapons? Couldn't you activate them by yourselves?" interrupted Naruto.

"Normally, we can, but since these weapons are integrated into our internal systems, using them in combat would consume too much of our energy. Additionally, since we have to carefully manage how much energy we use, the weapons' potential firepower would be greatly diminished. If Mini-Con were to fuse with one of us, however, they could provide the energy needed to activate the weapon and help regulate remove the strain of powering them, resulting in a much higher rate of efficiency." explained Red Alert.

"Quite right." agreed Prime. "But with the many positive concepts that the Mini-Cons brought to the war, there was just as many drawbacks. With the introduction of our more destructive integrated weaponry, the devastation reaped upon Cybertron rose to catastrophic levels, further damaging our already war-torn world. Additionally, the Decepticons took to viewing the Mini-Cons as mere weapons instead of sentient robots, and were treated a lot worse than slaves, forcing them to combine with their soldiers and enhance their fighting capabilities to the point that they're left in stasis-lock. Even worse, Megatron commissioned his scientists to perform live experiments on Mini-Cons, to see how they could enhance his soldiers' abilities to the utmost maximum level. This usually involved having their internal fail-safe systems completely disabled, so that they couldn't help but give the Decepticons _their _all, even with the risk of having their entire systems failing. For many of the Mini-Cons that we liberated, many of them had lasting injuries that couldn't be treated despite what our top medics tried."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, not used to hearing about such atrocities like the one that was committed on his friend's fellow kinsmen. To find out that an entire race had been degraded to mere objects, and had gone through horrors like live experimentation, made him sick to his very core. He had had plenty of experience of being treated worse than any criminal in his village, but to be seen as a mere weapon? As someone whose life could have been so easily discarded once deemed useless? It was a pretty unsettling thought; something that he wouldn't wish upon anyone, not even his enemies. Glancing to his left, he saw similar looks of shock and horror, indicating that the three kids didn't know of the hardships the Mini-Cons endured back on Cybertron.

"Realizing that the war would only worsen with their continued presence, the Mini-Cons made contact with us, and pleaded that we help them escape from Cybertron. It took a lot of difficult planning, and several nearly suicidal missions, but we were able to round up all of the Mini-Cons and build a ship that would be capable of taking them far away. But on the scheduled date of their evacuation, the Decepticons ambushed us in attempt to reclaim the Mini-Cons. We engaged them in order to buy our little friends enough time to escape via warp gate, but the damage done to their ship caused a malfunction in their transwarp systems just as they were about enter the gate. Their final destination ended up being your solar system. The damage finally taking it toll on the ship, the _Exodus_ crash-landed, first breaking apart when it collided with your moon, and then finally landed onto prehistoric Earth. The impact from the landing, as well as the structural damage done by the moon caused the Exodus to jettison the Mini-Cons all across the world, were they remained in stasis for millions of years. It was merely by chance that Rad, Carlos, and Alexis stumbled upon the wreckage of the _Exodus_, and uncovered the Street Action Team. It was because the team's reawakening that both the Autobots and Decepticons sent soldiers to Earth, one faction wanting to reclaim them to use as weapons, the other wanting to keep them safe."

Naruto gazed at the Autobot commander, dreading the question that he was about to ask. "And just...how long...has this civil war been going on?"

Optimus hesitated, a part of him not wanting to tell the blonde the devastating truth about Cybertron. But he knew that after everything that Naruto and the first three children had endured at the hands of Megatron, they deserved to know the truth.

"In your time, close to about four million years." answered Optimus, solemnly.

Naruto said nothing, as he tried to process everything that he had just learned. He had learned about the three ninja world wars in the academy, and knew that they had lasted for several years, and left the world scarred and mutilated once they were over. But now, they all seemed like petty squabbles compared to the planet-scale civil war on Cybertron that had been going on since before humans ever existed. To think that an entire civilization, generation after generation, had been ravaged by constant warfare, with seemingly no end in sight, was just to much to even imagine. Glancing back at the three civilian kids, he noticed the somber and slightly horrified expressions on their faces, which easily told him that they didn't know the severity of Cybertron's war up until now.

But then, his mind brought him back to something that Optimus had said earlier, or rather, to what he _didn't_ say. "Optimus, where exactly are we in regards to the Leaf Village? Given everything that happened, I think it would best if I let Old Man Hokage that Spitfire and I are fine." The Autobots each shared a nervous glance with each other, hesitant on answering the blonde's question.

"Elemental Nations? What part of Japan is that?" asked Carlos.

"And just what does a _hoagie _have to do anything?" added Rad.

"_Ho-ka-ge_. Hokage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the most powerful and respected ninja in the Land of Fire?"

"Wha-Land of Fire? Hidden Leaf? You're not making any sense at all!" said Alexis. "Where in the world are these places? I've never heard of any section of Japan being called by such names!"

"Japan, what are you talking about? What the hell is that?"

"Naruto, there's something that you need to know." interrupted Optimus, bringing the attention of the four adolescents to him. "Before we found you and Spitfire, we encountered a few...difficulties. You see, earlier this week we had picked up a Mini-Con homing beacon that mysteriously vanished just moments after it appeared. We tried to analyze the data that we received, but we couldn't reach any conclusive results. It was only after we located the second Mini-Con that-"

"The Mini-Con!" exclaimed Naruto, unzipping his jacket only to find that the storage panel was no longer tucked behind it, much to his dismay." "Aw, crap! Don't tell me that Megatron managed to get it after everything we went through!"

"It's alright, " said Red Alert, holding up the panel for the ninja to see. "The Mini-Con is safe and sound. I just moved it so that I could check to see if you were injured." Naruto sighed in relief. He then turned back to face the Autobot commander, sheepishly scratching the back of his head at an invisible itch.

"Sorry about that, Optimus. You were saying?"

"Yes, well, once our sensors managed to pick up the second Mini-Con's beacon, we encountered similar difficulties in locking onto its coordinates. It took us a while to finally pinpoint the exact location, which is why it took so long for us to intervene on Megatron. But another factor in our delayed reaction time was the location _itself_. You see, even though we have been on Earth for a short while, we had already managed to map out the entire planet to a degree that we were familiar with just about every major country in this world, as well as learn a brief history of a few of the civilizations that once existed on this planet. Yet, we have never came across a human settlement quite like yours. And when we compared the initial images of your village to that of the cities we've seen already, we saw that your home shared no similarities with the other cities that we've observed; the buildings and structures simply did not match with what we have seen from our probes."

Instantly, the dread that had been gnawing at the pit of his stomach returned full force for the blonde. Even though he only managed to comprehend bits and pieces of Optimus' explanation, Naruto didn't really like what he was hearing.

"Look, Optimus, I appreciate you telling me the truth and everything, but could you please just get to the main point? I've had a rough day, and I'd prefer that you tell me what you're trying to say without beating around the bush." said Naruto.

Optimus remained silent for a moment, as if he really, _really_ didn't want to answer the boy's question. "What I'm saying, Naruto, is that your _Village Hidden in the Leaves _doesn't exist. At least, in our dimension."

_To Be Continued... _

**888888888 **

**What the fecking hell, the Leaf Village doesn't exist in this new dimension?! If so, then where exactly is Naruto?! But do not fret, for if there's a will, there's a way, and Naruto is not one to give up so easily. Meanwhile, back in the shinobi world, the Third Hokage has got his hands full trying to come to terms at the mess that the Decepticons and Autobots have caused, and how much more complicated Naruto's return will make things. And what about Squad 7, will it still exist after everything that has happened? Find next time, when Naruto learns about parallel universes, tries to prove his worthiness of being a shinobi to a chronically-late instructor, and begins to question just who exactly are his comrades, ****_and_**** his enemies. **

***The "Ion Pulse Wave" is name I've created for the attack that Optimus uses when he clasps his hands together, and launches a beam of multicolored energy from them, which usually includes atom-like shapes in the center of the beam. This attack was seen numerous times in the anime, but I have yet to find the proper name of this move. If someone ****_does _****know the proper name for this attack, please let me know.**

**AN: Well, there you have it, another chapter. This is probably the longest chapter I have ever posted, 23 pages in total. And believe it or not, I was actually planning on making this even LONGER! First of all, I'd like to express my deepest apologies for how late this is. During my long period of silence, I have been plagued by a series of unfortunate events that really cut into my rate of posting updates; namely having my original flash drive get stolen, traveling around Europe, and trying to find time away from college and a summer job. And that brings me to my next point: writing and posting to this site is a hobby to me, not a career. If it was, then I would gladly be posting updates at a more rapid pace. So please, even though I'm touched that so many like my stories, don't waste a PM or review telling me that I have "no excuse" for taking so long to post an update. So anyways, just like before, have at it. Leave a review if you like or don't like something, subscribe if you haven't already. Ja ne! **


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